


No Soul So Desolate

by estelraca



Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Kamen Rider Decade | Masked Rider Decade, Kamen Rider Series
Genre: Gen, Spoilers for later plot elements of both shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-26
Updated: 2012-06-27
Packaged: 2017-11-08 15:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/444769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estelraca/pseuds/estelraca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Gokaigers stumble onto injured survivors on a Zangyack planet post-revolution, they don't realize exactly how much trouble they're signing themselves up for.  The Zangyack, meanwhile, don't realize exactly what it means to have Kadoya Tsukasa joining their side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red

**Author's Note:**

> This was written just before the last few episodes of Gokaiger aired; it was written as a gift for Amamiyarin on LiveJournal and posted there a few months ago. Con crit and reviews are always appreciated!

  
  
_Part One: Red_  
  
The young human doesn’t scream when he’s presented to their leader.  His dark brown hair is matted with blood and sweat, his clothes torn from the battle, but his face is an icy cold mask.  His eyes are the only things that display any emotion, glaring with fiery, impotent rage at the collected generals.  
  
“This is the one that walks between worlds?”  Kansanin eyes the prisoner up and down, assessing his state and the thick bindings that hold him.  Her two pairs of arms clasp together in front of her armored chest, and her red-furred tail twitches back and forth against the back of her throne.  “The one with the dangerous armor?”  
  
“Yes, sir.”  One of the few remaining Imperial Guards, evidently the young man’s jailer, kneels down in front of Kansanin and holds out a small metal book and a belt with a complicated buckle.  “These are the weapons he used against us.”  
  
“Interesting.”  Leaning back in her throne, Kansanin rests her head on a propped fist.  “If this were a better time for the Empire, boy, you would be publicly executed for your crime of standing against the Zangyack.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, though.  Rerano, you’re certain you can turn the boy to our side?”  
  
“I haven’t met a mind yet that I can’t twist, Your Majesty.”  Bowing deeply to the leader of their faction, Rerano eyes the human hungrily.  His beak hangs sightly open, revealing his serrated teeth, and all his feathers shift and rattle in anticipation.  “Preliminary scans seem to indicate that it will be all too easy to make a suitable Action Commander out of the human.”  
  
“Then do so.”  Waving a hand in dismissal, Kansanin leans back on her throne.  “When you’re satisfied with your work, deploy him against those pirates.”  
  
“Understood, Your Majesty.”  Grabbing the chains that bind the human, Rerano yanks him back toward the door.  
  
The human stumbles, gets his feet under him, and turns back to Kansanin.  The same cold hardness that had been in his expression is in his eyes, now.  “Try whatever you want.  But I swear, if you hurt Natsumi and Yuusuke, Kadoya Tsukasa will hunt you down and exterminate every last one of you from every world that ever existed.”  
  
Silence reigns for a moment, all of the Zangyack leaders in the room looking between Kansanin and the human.  Then Kansanin bursts into laughter, followed shortly by Rerano as he tugs harshly on the lead tied to the human, and eventually infecting almost everyone in the room.  
  
It’s absurd, a single bloody human challenging the might of the Zangyack.  
  
And yet, after everything that’s happened with the pirates…  
  
He is only a gormin, without power or rank or even a name.  He is lucky to be used as a servant at court rather than dying on the battlefield.  He should trust to the judgment of his betters so far as the human is concerned.  
  
A shiver still runs down his spine as the door closes behind Rerano and the human, though.  
  
Somehow laughing at a man with eyes like those just seems like the wrong decision to make.  
  
***  
  
They find the people surrounded by piles of Zangyack dead.  
  
There had been dead Lirians at first, too, though far fewer of them than she was used to seeing on conquered worlds.  The numbers of dead civilians had dwindled quickly as they followed the path of the battle, though, leaving her puzzled.  How had the defenders done such damage without taking remarkably heavy casualties themselves?  What kind of tactics had they used to evacuate civilians?  
  
How could they teach people to copy it, on other worlds that are still struggling to throw off the Empire’s heavy yolk?  
  
It’s the most Zangyack corpses Luka’s seen in one place since they won the Earth.  Gormin, zugormin, dogorim, a few Imperial Guardsmen, and a scattering of action commanders all lie among the wreckage.  
  
“Who _did_ this?”  Doc sidles closer to Joe, peering at the dead over the swordsman’s shoulder.  
  
“Someone very strong.”  Using the point of his sword, Joe sifts through a pile of dead gormin to get a better look at the action commander buried among them.  
  
“Someone very angry.”  Ahim picks her way daintily through the wreckage, carefully stepping over pools of blood and prone forms.  
  
“Someone like them, I’d bet.”  Marvelous swings his sword off his shoulder to point at the two people lying in the center of a clear area.  
  
Two walls of a building are still relatively intact, though there is no floor or roof or really any distinguishing characteristics besides grey brick.  The woman is propped in the corner, protected on two sides.  She is beautiful, even covered in blood and the dust of battle.  Her long black hair falls over her shoulder, hiding most of her chest from view.  Her left hand is clenched tight around something.  
  
The man kneels in front of her.  It’s clear in an instant that he was protecting her.  He faces the open space, and it is impossible to tell what he looked like before the battle.  His clothes have been reduced to blood-drenched scraps.  A spear is embedded in the right side of his chest, propping his body up; a knife protrudes from his left arm.  
  
“Gods be merciful…”  Ahim’s hands move to cover her mouth, her fingers trembling just slightly.  
  
Putting her arm around the other woman’s shoulders, Luka gives her a quick hug.  She doesn’t know what to say to help.  Ahim isn’t the kind of person who wants to hear that these warriors died well, taking more Zangyack with them than most people ever got a chance to.  All she sees is the painful deaths, the evidence of deep camaraderie, and there’s nothing that can make the loss of that from the universe any better.  
  
“We should take care of their bodies.”  Joe’s face is set in a grim expression as he studies the scene.  “Before we keep chasing the Zangyack.  We owe them that much, Marvelous.”  
  
“Ah.  I wouldn’t have just left them for the birds, Joe.”  Marvelous’ sword hangs heavy at his side, his expression also far grimmer than usual.  “They were on our side, after all, if they did this much damage to the Zangyack.”  
  
It should get easier.  She always thinks it will be easier, the next time.  After all, she’s seen the Zangyack pillage worlds and slaughter good people since she was a child.  What’s one more tableau of friends fighting a losing battle to save each other?  Maybe it isn’t even what it seems like.  Maybe the man wasn’t trying to defend the woman.  Maybe he just happened to fall there, as he was running away.  
  
And maybe all the Zangyack just committed mass suicide.  Right.  
  
“Uh… guys…”  Doc steps out from behind Joe, craning his upper body from side to side for a few ridiculous moments as he examines the two humans.  “Burying them might be a bit premature.  I’m pretty sure the girl’s still breathing.”  
  
They trade glances among themselves for one stunned moment.  Then Ahim dashes forward, heading for the woman.  
  
There’s no way they can expect it.  The man looks dead.  He’s certainly taken enough of a beating to kill a normal person, and most people didn’t dash around with spears sticking out of their chests.  
  
This one apparently can, though.  He rises from his hunched position on the ground as soon as Ahim’s foot lands next to him, flinging himself at the princess with a roar of desperate fury.  The two of them crash to the ground, Ahim landing underneath the zombie-man but quickly using a throw to send him crashing away.  
  
Sometime in the melee the spear yanks free, though the knife remains lodged in his arm.  Fresh red blood patters to the ground in a frighteningly fast stream, but if the man notices he doesn’t show it.  He quickly scrambles to take up his position between them and the woman, teeth bared in a feral snarl.  “You won’t touch her.  Won’t let you.”  
  
The crew assembles around Ahim, and Luka gives her a quick once-over despite the princess’ protests that she’s all right.  Once she’s determined that Ahim isn’t really hurt, Luka turns her attention back to the bleeding man.  
  
“Go.”  The man sways on his feet, but he doesn’t even bother to cover the bloody wound in his chest.  Black mist seems to rise from his skin as she watches, and there’s a flicker of red over his abdomen that doesn’t seem like blood.  “ _Go_.”  
  
“Not likely.  Not after you attack one of ours.”  Marvelous takes a step toward the man, earning a primal growl of outrage from him.  If the pirate captain notices the increasing tension, though, he doesn’t react.  “So much for helping you out.”  
  
“Helping?”  The man straightens slightly, the darkness fading away.  “You want… to help us?”  
  
“Yes.”  Ahim steps forward, placing a hand on Marvelous’ shoulder before approaching the stranger.  “We’re also enemies of the Zangyack.  Rather famous ones.  You may have heard of us.  We’re the pirate crew that killed Walz Gils and Akudos Gils.”  
  
“I don’t know who that is.”  The man hesitates, turning to look at the woman behind him for a moment and swaying drunkenly on his feet.  Pushing his hair back with blood-drenched fingers, leaving livid red marks across his skin, he looks back at Ahim.  “You really want to help us?”  
  
“Yes.”  Ahim walks toward the man, one slow step at a time.  “I am fairly certain we share a common enemy.  Even if we didn’t, though, I would offer assistance to someone brave enough to go through so much for a friend.”  
  
“I won’t let you hurt Natsumi.”  The man takes a step back from Ahim, backing himself into the corner in front of the woman he’s protecting.  “I…”  
  
“We will not hurt her.  We will not hurt you.”  Ahim continues her slow, inexorable walk toward them, hands held out to the side.  When she is only a step in front of him she bows her head down, hands still out to the side.  “I give you my word as Queen of my people that no harm will befall you while you are my guests.  None that I can prevent, at least.”  
  
The stranger blinks at her, swaying from side to side still.  The flow of blood from his chest has slowed to a trickle, and Luka fears it won’t matter for him what he decides to do.  Tilting his head to the side, he considers each of their crew carefully before smiling at Ahim.  The smile transforms his face, his whole bearing, making him look less threatening and only half-dead.  “I think… you look kind.  I think… I’ll trust you…”  
  
Ahim catches him as he collapses, settling him gently on the ground.  Luka rushes forward to help her, removing her jacket to use as a compress on the awful chest wound.  Not that it’s really going to matter much.  Once someone lost so much blood that they couldn’t even bleed properly anymore, trying to save them was usually a lost cause.  
  
Except the wound isn’t as awful as it had seemed before.  Thick, discolored scar tissue and bruising surrounds a two centimeter long laceration, but the edges don’t look quite right.  
  
The edges are healing together, the could-have-been fatal injury sealing, becoming a hideous-looking scar even as she watches.  
  
“Did you see—”  
  
“Yes.”  Ahim nods, rearranging the tattered remnants of the man’s shirt to cover the scar as best as she can.  “It doesn’t matter right now.  We’ll ask him about it later, when he’s rested.”  
  
Doc and Joe are turning the woman over, Doc looking at her injuries while Joe pries her clenched left hand open.  A white ball falls into his hand, and the ex-Zangyack frowns down at it in confusion.  
  
Helping Doc to tie her jacket around the woman’s chest, putting pressure on a wound that _doesn’t_ seem to be healing at an astronomical speed, Luka tries to make out what the thing in Joe’s hand is.  It’s impossible to see with him hunched over, though.  “Joe, what is it?”  
  
“I don’t know.”  Joe turns his hand toward her, poking at the white creature huddled in his palm.  It _is_ a creature, she can see, an almost bat-like body wrapped in two thick white wings.  “A bat, maybe?  An alien bat?  It’s still breathing, though.”  
  
“Fine.  Give it to Ahim.”  Marvelous has been facing away from them, watching the ruins and the piles of dead Zangyack as though he expects to be attacked at any moment.  It’s not like him, to be so wary.  
  
Or it wasn’t like him, before the final battle for Earth, but that battle had changed things in all of them.  
  
“They’re stable enough to be moved?”  Marvelous doesn’t lower his sword as he comes to stand over them and the woman, frowning down at her.  
  
“I think so.”  Doc’s voice is hesitant, and he looks at Luka uncertainly.  
  
“I think so, too.”  Clapping Doc on the back, she smiles reassuringly at him.  None of them really have enough medical training to make this call.  Joe has what he learned with the Zangyack, who weren’t terribly fond of caring for fallen soldiers; she has what she taught herself on the street; and Doc has what he learned wherever he learned all his computer-wizard things.  
  
“Then let’s get back to the ship.”  Bending down, Marvelous slings the woman over his shoulders in one quick motion, only setting his sword down for a moment as he does.  
  
Joe doesn’t wait for further orders before lifting the man in a similar fashion, handing the tiny bat-thing to Ahim for transport.  
  
It’s not the type of treasure they were expecting to find on this planet.  This was supposed to be a safe planet, one where the fragment of the Zangyack empire that they’re currently tracking down had been driven off through a general uprising.  
  
Still, for a group of strays like them, taking in a few more doesn’t necessarily make this a bad day.  
  
***  
  
Gai runs to meet them as soon as they’re within visual range of the _Galleon_.  Marvelous sighs as the Earthman skitters up to them, arms pin-wheeling as he stops abruptly.  
  
“Whoa!”  Gai points at the woman on his back and the man Joe’s carrying, mouth gaping open for a moment as he processes what he’s seeing.  “Who are these guys?  Are they friends?  What happened with the Zangyack?  Did you see how—?”  
  
“These guys happened to the Zangyack.”  Glowering at the Earthling, Marvelous hopes he’ll get the message and get his enthusiasm under control.  Sometimes the man can be fun, his energy and zest for life a welcome counterpoint to Joe’s stoicism and Luka’s cynicism.  At other times, though—like when he’s been walking through a graveyard, or has a maybe-dying maybe-ally on his back—Marvelous could do without his outbursts.  “We don’t know anything else, so don’t ask.  Just get blankets for these two and have Navi start getting the ship ready to leave.”  
  
“Aye aye, Captain!”  Gai salutes smartly, his gaze traveling over the two unconscious strangers again.  Turning abruptly, he dashes back the way he had come.  
  
At least the man can follow orders well.  
  
Except that he freezes as he scrambles up onto the ship, body tensing as though for a fight, before being yanked onto the deck and out of sight by something.  
  
“Watch out!”  Marvelous barks out the order, bringing everyone to a halt in an instant.  Joe and Luka had both seen what he saw, and have their eyes fixed on the _Galleon’s_ deck; Ahim and Doc freeze, bringing their weapons to bear, but it’s clear from the way they look around that they don’t know what way trouble’s coming from.  “Someone’s on the _Galleon_.  They grabbed Gai.”  
  
Gai’s face appears a moment later, leaning over the edge of the rail.  His hands are above his head, and he keeps glancing backward at someone behind him.  “Marvelous, we have another… guest.”  
  
“Really?”  Shifting the woman on his back, he considers setting her down so he can have both his gun and his sword in hand.  He doesn’t want to risk having to abandon her if it comes down to a fight, though.  Sometimes the scars Basco left him with are really damn annoying.  “Guests don’t usually threaten my crew.”  
  
Another man leans out beside Gai, a strange blue-and-black gun held almost casually in his right hand, though the barrel always stays fixed on Gai’s head.  “Sorry if I’m coming across as a bit pushy.  I just have this slight problem where you have something that belongs to me and I’d like it back.  I figured having something of yours that you’d want back would put us on more even ground for this negation.”  
  
Marvelous hates him on sight.  It’s not that he really _looks_ that much like Basco, aside from the fact that they’re both young men with dark hair—or at least both present the image of being young men with dark hair.  It’s more the way he stands and holds himself, so confident and relaxed, and the way his eyes assess the situation, coldly self-assured.  
  
It doesn’t really matter what it is about the man that reminds him of Basco, though.  He _does_ remind Marvelous of Basco, and that in combination with the fact that he’s holding one of Marvelous’ crew hostage means he really needs to die in the next few minutes.  
  
Gai’s watching him closely, not panicked at all, waiting for a signal to move.  If he can get Luka to shoot, give Gai an opening to transform—  
  
“They’re alive, right?”  The man’s voice shakes, just slightly, and he leans farther over the rail.  His eyes scan over the two people they were attempting to rescue again and again, and the fingers of his right hand are suddenly deathly pale where they grip his weapon.  “Of course they’re alive.  You don’t take dead people as prisoners.  Now, what’s going to happen is you are going to very gently set them down.  Then we’ll discuss what transportation we’re all going to take away from this trade.”  
  
Marvelous sighs, looking away from the man and taking a few deep breaths.  The guy’s afraid for his friends.  He’s trying to hide it, because letting the enemy know how much you care is a good way to get that person killed.  Turning to Ahim and Luka, Marvelous nods toward the gunman.  “Ahim.  Handle this before I decide to have him shot.”  
  
It clues Luka in to his original plan, and she gives him a slight nod, adjusting her hold on her gun.  
  
Ahim steps forward, the bat-creature still held in her hand, and gives a slight curtsy.  “I believe there’s been a misunderstanding here, good sir.  We found these people already injured.  We intended to treat their wounds and discover if we were truly on the same side of this war that seems to be enveloping the galaxy.”  
  
“Right.  You just picked up some strangers to help them.”  The man’s skepticism drips from his words, and he doesn’t relax at all.  
  
“We did.  They had obviously seen a great battle and displayed great bravery, and an enemy of the Zangyack is a friend of ours.”  
  
That’s stretching things a little, and Marvelous barely resists the urge to give Ahim a skeptical look.  An enemy of the Zangyack at least wasn’t an immediate enemy of theirs, but that hardly made them friends.  It didn’t even guarantee they were allies.  
  
After all, look at Basco.  
  
The gunman considers Ahim’s statement, still keeping his weapon aimed steadily at Gai.  The man’s arm should be hurting him by now, but if he feels any fatigue it doesn’t show.  After a few seconds he shakes his head, relaxing just slightly.  “Tell me what you saw.”  
  
“We were asked to examine this area by the interim government of the planet, as a gesture of goodwill before pursuing the Zangyack further.”  Ahim speaks calmly, her hands gently cupping the bat in front of her chest.  “This city was the site of the last of the fighting, before the Zangyack retreated, and there were wild tales being told of great warriors in black, white, and pink armor.  We found many Zangyack dead, and these two positioned at the center of the carnage.  The man was protecting the woman.  He regained consciousness for a few moments, when we attempted to go to the woman, but after ascertaining we weren’t a threat he collapsed again.”  
  
“There wasn’t anyone else?”  The man leans even further over the railing, face twisting slightly, though it’s hard to read what the expression means.  Is that fear, too?  Anger?  Disbelief?  
  
“No.”  Ahim turns to the rest of them, waiting for each to give a brief shake of their head before turning back to the gunman.  “No one else with them, at least.  There were dead Zangyack and dead civilians, but no one near them.”  
  
“Nobody in a ridiculous outfit with silly hair?  With a pink camera?  Probably pink something in his clothes?”  It’s possible to identify the emotions in his voice, now.  Disbelief, desperation, sorrow, they’re all too plain as the man stares at them.  “Trust me, you’d know him if you saw him.  Obnoxious fellow.  He should have been with them.”  
  
“I’m sorry.”  Ahim genuinely means it, a slight edge of tears in her voice as she stares up at the stranger who’s still holding a gun to Gai’s head.  “He may have been among the dead, I suppose, but he wasn’t anywhere near them.”  
  
“Tsukasa’s not dead.”  The gunman snarls the words, hand shaking visibly for a moment as though he’s debating swinging the weapon around to point it at Ahim.  “If you didn’t see him… he must be somewhere else.  He must have gotten separated from them somehow.”  A brief, dark chuckle slips past the man’s lips.  “He’ll be annoyed when he finds out _I_ saved his little traveling pals.”  
  
“I hope that you’ll be reunited in the future, then.”  Ahim ducks her head down, not looking at the gunman for a moment.  Keeping her thoughts and feelings and beliefs on what could have happened to someone who went missing in a Zangyack battle zone to herself, and it only takes a glance at Joe to make Marvelous do the same.  
  
Taking hope away from the crazy man with a gun wouldn’t be the wisest thing they could do right now.  
  
“Did he tell you anything?”  The gunman stares again at his friends, a slightly desperate, hungry expression on his face.  He’s starting to believe them, maybe, _wants_ to trust them, but he’s wise enough not to.  
  
Damn it.  Marvelous _really_ doesn’t want to like this man.  Anyone who reminds him of Basco as a first impression has to be bad news.  The fact that he apparently has at least a rudimentary knowledge of what it means to be crew doesn’t change that fact.  
  
“He said the woman’s name was Natsumi.  That’s about all we were able to discover.”  Ahim gestures at Joe, or rather at the stranger slung across Joe’s back.  “As you can see, he’s badly wounded.  We would greatly appreciate being able to give them medical attention.”  
  
“Yuusuke decided he could trust you…”  The gunman lowers his head, leaving himself vulnerable.  
  
Gai acts between one thought and the next, and Marvelous grins as he remembers the other reason he likes the Earthling.  The man’s a damn good fighter, considering he never had to do it to survive prior to joining the crew.  The gun discharges, sending blue spheres up into the air that rain down and explode, rocking the ship and sending a cloud of dust into the air.  
  
Luka is up the side of the _Galleon_ within seconds, Doc following behind her much less gracefully.  Shifting the woman’s arms so he can grasp both in one hand, Marvelous follows them, Joe and Ahim hot on his heels.  
  
Gai lies bleeding on the deck, a hole burned through his shirt and the skin beneath it blackened and bloody on his right shoulder.  He scrambles to his feet as Luka stops beside him, her gun fixed on the gunman.  
  
The gunman is bleeding from his nose and the left side of his mouth, and his eyes burn bright with suppressed fury as he shifts his aim between Gai, Luka and Doc.  
  
Never at Marvelous, never at Joe, not even at Ahim and the creature she holds, and Marvelous sighs again.  “Cut it out, desperado.  All you’re going to do is get yourself and your friends hurt if you keep fighting.  Put your gun away, and I’ll let you keep discussing things with Ahim like a civilized person.”  
  
“I was really considering that, but after your friend’s little stunt there…”  Gesturing at Gai with his gun, the gunman grins fiercely.  “It’s a little hard to trust you.  How do I know you’re not going to shoot me as soon as I lower my weapon?”  
  
“Because we could already have shot you, dumbass.”  Luka scowls at the man, gun and sword both held tight in clenched fists.  It’s not the best way to hold them, but Marvelous knows she would relax as soon as the battle actually started, taking a more strategic grip on both weapons.  “Just like we could have left your friends to rot or killed them where they lay.”  
  
The gunman’s grin disappears as quickly as it had appeared, his gun leveling on Luka.  
  
Any further stand-off is interrupted by a soft groan from the woman slung over Marvelous’ back, and he bends down quickly, laying her on the deck as her eyes blink open.  Helping her to sit up slowly, he turns her toward the gunman.  
  
“Daiki…”  The woman coughs, clearing her throat, and continues in a less gravelly voice.  “What are you doing?”  
  
“The idea was to rescue you, Natsumelon.”  The thief straightens slightly, a bit of a grin reappearing on his face.  “It hasn’t gone quite like I had planned yet.”  
  
“I can see that.”  The woman doesn’t hesitate before grabbing Marvelous’ jacket and using it to haul herself to her feet.  She sways once she’s standing, her face paling as she presses a hand to Luka and Doc’s improvised bandage tied around her chest.  “But… these aren’t the people who attacked us.  The attack… Tsukasa.  Yusuuke!”  
  
She doesn’t seem to notice the pirates as she charges through them, shoving Ahim forward and Luka to the side so she can get to Joe and the man he’s still holding.  Joe bends down slowly, giving the woman time to grab her friend and gently lower him to the deck.  “Yuusuke, please don’t be dead.  I can’t lose you both.  Not again.”  
  
There’s too much pure terror and desperate need in her voice, and Marvelous finds himself looking away from her.  Which lands his gaze right on the gunman—on Daiki, that was the name she used for him—who has allowed his weapon to fall down to his side.  
  
Daiki hesitates for a moment longer before shrugging and offering him a half-smile.  “Truce, then?  At least until we figure out who’s on what side.”  
  
“Ah.  Truce.”  Jabbing a finger toward the gunman, Marvelous scowls.  “Though I am going to punch you in the future for sneaking onto my ship.”  
  
“I think your spastic friend there did that.”  Daiki gestures toward Gai, who is currently prancing in a circle trying to avoid Doc as the man pokes gently at the fabric over his wound.  
  
“Doesn’t count.  That was for trying to hold one of my crew hostage.”  Marvelous decides it’s safe to look back at Natsumi, since the woman doesn’t seem to be crying now that she’s ascertained the man is alive.  “We’ll settle those debts later, though.  Right now, let’s get downstairs and get everyone patched up.”  
  
***  
  
Everything aches.  
  
Natsumi can’t remember a time when she hurt this badly.  Well, there had been the time with Apollo Geist.  Dying had certainly been a painful and awful process.  Other than that, though, she’s been fairly lucky so far as Riders go.  She hasn’t been seriously injured all that many times.  
  
It’s not really an experience she’d like to repeat, either.  Gritting her teeth, she closes her eyes as Luka and Ahim carefully remove the bandage they had used to stop her from bleeding.  Part of the clot comes free, and a sluggish trickle of blood begins to run down her chest.  Ahim presses a clean cloth against it quickly, though, and Luka uses the old bandage to catch the blood before it can join the rest of the blood-and-dirt stains on her skirt.  
  
“You’re doing very well.”  Ahim smiles as she says the words, her hands calm and sure where they hold the bandages.  “You’re very brave.”  
  
“Not really.”  Blushing faintly, Natsumi turns her head to the side, avoiding Ahim and Luka’s gazes.  
  
It gives her a view of Yuusuke, stripped down to nothing, getting a similar treatment to hers from two of the male pirates while Daiki watches closely.  Was that Gai?  No, Gai was the spastic one in the pink shirt and the silver jacket, the one that Kaitou apparently shot.  Joe’s the one in the blue, the one washing Yuusuke’s injuries with a bucket of soap and water while Doc lays out bandaging for both Yuusuke and Gai.  
  
She’s never seen Yuusuke look so awful.  There aren’t any open wounds, but his entire body seems to be a mass of scar tissue and livid bruises.  He’s far too pale beneath the blood and the grime, which becomes painfully obvious the more Joe cleans him up.  
  
Kuuga may have kept him from dying, but he has a hell of a lot of healing to do before he’ll be fit for any kind of combat.  
  
“He did a great thing.”  Ahim says the words quietly, opening a jar of something that smells an awful lot like alcohol.  “He was protecting you when we found you.”  
  
“Yeah?”  Smiling for a moment, Natsumi ducks her head so the pirates won’t see the tears that are threatening.  “I’m not surprised.  He’s like that.  He was trying to protect Tsukasa, too, but there were just so many of them…”  
  
She won’t cry.  She won’t let herself cry.  She’s alive.  Yuusuke’s alive.  Tsukasa isn’t necessarily dead, and if he isn’t, he’ll find a way to get back to them.  
  
“Ah, girl, you’re going to need stitches.”  Luka shakes her head, poking at the edges of the wound that Ahim’s administrations have revealed.  
  
The gash extends from just above her right breast to down below her sternum.  It’s going to leave her with an awful scar.  Which is really the dumbest thing to be worrying about, and she has to blink away another round of tears.  
  
“Here, too.”  Luka’s fingers graze gently over her back, and Natsumi realizes that there is indeed a sharper pain there than the rest of the generalized achiness she feels.  “Plus I don’t think there’s an inch of you isn’t bruised.  You guys really gave it everything you had.”  
  
“There wasn’t anything else to do.”  Her voice cracks slightly, and she clears her throat.  
  
“Tell me what happened.”  The command comes from behind her, from the man in the billowing red coat that the others called Captain Marvelous.  
  
She doesn’t turn to look at him.  She’s all right with being stripped half-naked in front of the female pirates, and the male crewmen who are working on Yuusuke have been kind enough to avert their gazes, but she’s got a sinking suspicion that Marvelous would stare right at her.  Not necessarily out of lust or anything like that, but just because it’s what he _does_ , stares directly at what he’s confronting and deals with it.  
  
Or maybe that’s just the way he deals with Daiki, but she’d rather not put it to the test.  
  
“We arrived on this world about a day ago.”  She glances at the room’s wall, realizing once again that they’re piloting a _pirate ship_ through _space_ , and amends her statement.  “We arrived on _that_ world a day ago.  We did what we usually do, exploring, getting to know people.  There was a revolution going on.  There were all of these monsters—the Zangyack, I think they were called.  Tsukasa didn’t want to get involved.  They weren’t Riders, and it wasn’t our war.  Yuusuke… couldn’t help it.”  
  
She can’t keep herself from looking at him again, so still and hurt.  He hadn’t wanted any of this, she knows.  If he had known what would happen, that they would spend eight hours fighting unending wave after unending wave of monsters; that they would fight to the point where she too exhausted to move, and then get up and keep fighting again; that they would lose Tsukasa in the impossible throngs, Decade’s armor breaking apart under an enemy barrage…  
  
If he had known that, would he have still gotten them involved?  
  
She doesn’t know.  It doesn’t matter, anyway.  He had to get involved, because he’s Yuusuke and people were dying around them.  The final outcome of the war really didn’t factor into it.  
  
“You’re going to be all right.”  Luka smiles at her, coming around to kneel on the deck next to Ahim.  “You’re with us now, and we’re really good at giving the Zangyack what they have coming to them.”  
  
“Natsumelon.”  Kaitou calls her attention over to him.  He’s still watching the other pirates care for Yuusuke and Gai, Kivaala cradled in one hand while the other dangles at his side.  Dangles close to his gun, though, and she knows that all the Gokaigers have noticed it.  She watched their eyes as they each took in Daiki’s demeanor, his weapons, looked at Marvelous, and apparently read something from him that meant it was all right to let it go.  “What happened to Tsukasa?”  
  
“They were focused on him.”  She swallows, trying not to feel self-conscious despite her lack of a shirt or bra and Daiki’s intense scrutiny.  “Yuusuke and I kept trying to fend them off, but… I heard some of them talking about orders.  About taking the man who could walk between worlds.  I don’t know who told them he could do that—someone we had talked to must have, or someone Yuusuke had talked to.  It doesn’t matter.  Eventually we got tired.  We got sloppy.  And they took him.”  
  
They took him despite her best efforts.  They took him despite Yuusuke’s best efforts.  They dragged him away, through the never-ending horde of monsters, and there was nothing she could do about it.  
  
“So he was alive.”  Kaitou smiles.  “That means we’ll meet up with him again.”  
  
“Ah.”  She forces a smile, which somehow makes her feel better about the situation despite not actually changing anything.  “We’ll find him again.”  
  
“I’m certain you’ll be reunited with your friend.”  Ahim smiles, dipping a clean white bandage into the sharply scented liquid she had opened before.  “I’m going to clean the wound before I start sowing it.  I’m afraid this is going to hurt.  Once it’s clean, I’ll place an ointment over it that should take the sting away and keep it from hurting too much while I sew.”  
  
She’s going to be sown up by a pirate on a pirate ship in the middle of space.  Biting her lip, Natsumi nods her head, giving her assent to continue.  Her grandfather’s not going to believe the stories they get out of this world.  
  
Well, actually, he probably will, but that’s because he’s a very strange man with an even stranger past who takes anything in stride.  
  
Assuming he’s still alive.  
  
Ahim’s hand reaches out, gently pressing the cloth against the deep gash on Natsumi’s chest.  It _burns_ , as though the pirate were holding a fiery brand against Natsumi’s flesh.  
  
Biting down harder on her lip, she clenches all her muscles tight to keep from moving.  She will not thrash.  She will not scream.  She will not cry.  She’s done this for Yuusuke and Tsukasa and Daiki in the past, and she can have at least as much composure as _Tsukasa_.  
  
Luka’s hand slides into hers, pressing down hard.  “Squeeze my hand if you want.  It helps, sometimes.”  
  
Offering the woman a small smile, Natsumi clenches her fingers hard around the pirate’s.  
  
She’ll get through this.  Yuusuke will heal, and when he wakes up they’ll go looking for Tsukasa.  They’ll find him, and he’ll either have already crushed the Zangyack empire or they’ll help him to do it.  
  
Glancing around and seeing the determinedly cheerful good will on Luka’s face, the kind compassion on Ahim’s, the simmering energy in Gai’s, the hesitant concern in Doc’s, the stoic resolve on Joe’s, and the impossible-to-read resolve in Marvelous’, she actually starts to believe it’s possible.

 


	2. Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gokaigers try to get a feel for their new guests, while their guests try to wrap their minds around the pirates. Meanwhile the Zangyack turn Tsukasa to their side, little knowing what exactly that's going to mean.

_Part Two: Blue_  
  
The human screams throughout the process.  
  
It shouldn’t hurt.  Oh, the initial stages are frequently described as _unpleasant_ , but by the time he’s half-way through most subjects are silent.  Some even seem to _enjoy_ it, reveling in the feelings of power, abject contentment, absolute loyalty, fierce determination, emotions that normal civilians never really got the opportunity to experience.  
  
Not this one.  
  
He screams start to finish, though it doesn’t sound like fear or pain to Rerano’s ears.  Oh, perhaps there was fear to start, but there was more anger.  There continues to be anger, an underlying note of rage that doesn’t disappear, but that’s all right.  Let the boy keep his rage.  Once everything’s done, he’ll turn it against those who deserve it most.  Wrapped around the anger are other emotions, _civilian_ emotions, the weakness of frustration, unachievable desires, perhaps even the strange pain of broken attachments.  
  
All of that can be dismissed, and he’s quite certain he’s eliminated them from the human youth by the time he turns the machine off and ceases his careful manipulation of the boy’s memories and thoughts.  
  
It was easier than with most of his subjects, in some ways.  This human already has the soul of a conqueror.  It was simply a matter of finding the right keys to unlock the potential.  
  
The human stands slowly when he’s released, staring at his hands for a long minute before giving a brief laugh and jumping to his feet.  
  
“Tsukasa.”  Moving away from his equipment, trying hard to keep his feathers from rattling in eager anticipation, Rerano walks over to his newest achievement.  “Tell me what you’re thinking.”  
  
“I’m thinking it’s about time I took my proper place in the Empire.”  The human smiles, that curious expression of bared teeth that should be a threat but is really a sign of pleasure.  “I’m thinking I’m grateful for the… kindness that you’ve shown me.”  
  
“And how will you repay us for giving you the honor of serving in the Empire?”  His beak clicks together at the end of the statement, and he allows a brief wave of anticipation to run through him and rattle his feathers.  He loves this moment the most, the one when they show him the obedience that all the other Zangyack should.  
  
The human hesitates, expression twitching briefly, as though he were fighting some deep-seated instinct.  Then he goes down on one knee, as is proper.  His head stays up, his eyes burning into Rerano.  “If you will provide me with the troops, I will use my unique abilities to assist the Empire.  I will ensure that the Zangyack hold control over not just _this_ universe, but all universes.”  
  
“Your ability to walk between worlds?”  A fresh burst of curiosity rushes through him as he contemplates what this human could mean.  Their fragment of the once-mighty Zangyack empire will have powers that no other fragment has ever had, and he will be the one to first examine it.  
  
“My ability to walk between worlds.”  Tsukasa smiles again, though the rest of his expression is suddenly cold and distant.  “My connections in other worlds.  And, of course, the weapons that I have used in the past to conquer other worlds.”  
  
“The strange armor that you bore.”  He has the pieces, and people examining them currently, but he doesn’t know quite how they work yet.  “You will show me how it works.”  
  
“I will show you what it can do.”  The human stands, the cold hardness of his expression solidifying.  “I demonstrated its power before my ascension to Zangyack, and I will demonstrate its power again in service to the Empire.”  
  
“And I will watch, and learn how to replicate this fantastical technology.”  Clicking teeth and then beak together, Rerano allows a brief crow of exultation to escape.  “I will gather your first command at once, and we shall leave before the sun touches the sky of the Zangyack homeworld again.”  
  
“That’s acceptable.”  The human gives just the briefest inclination of his head, and Rerano has the strangest feeling that the boy’s dismissing him as though he were a servant.  
  
It’s impossible, of course.  There’s no way that the human could have defied his programming.  It must just be a miscommunication between species.  
  
The human raises a hand, tilting his head to the side slightly as he does.  “There is something I’ll require before we leave, though.”  
  
“Oh?”  The blood-red feathers on Rerano’s back ruffle up for a moment before he smoothes them out by force of will.  The human isn’t giving orders.  He’s merely asking for something.  
  
“Yes.”  The human smiles again, a slight upturn of his lips.  “Before we go anywhere, I’m going to need a… specific set of clothes prepared for me.”  
  
***  
  
Yuusuke has no idea where he is.  
  
This is, sadly, not all that unusual an occurrence.  It seems like if anyone in their group is going to be possessed, brainwashed, or otherwise mentally assaulted and abused, it’s going to be him.  He doesn’t _remember_ something like that happening this time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it didn’t.  
  
He doesn’t remember much of the last day, actually.  Something big must have happened, for him to forget how he ended up in a hammock in a strange room.  Things had started out normally enough.  They had spun the cosmic wheel and come to another world, and it had been…  
  
It had been…  
  
 _Ow_.  Sitting up hurts, and he freezes for a moment, not sure whether it’s going to be better to just finish sitting up or to lie back down and pretend he never made this mistake in the first place.  Eventually he decides that figuring out how to clamber out of the hammock is the better option, because he should figure out where he is and where the others have ended up in case they need him.  
  
There’s a window in the small room, looking out on a starry night.  It’s not shaped like a normal window, instead being circular, with no evidence of a way to open it.  Scrambling out of the hammock, somehow managing not to end up falling flat on his face, he heads toward the window.  If he can get a look outside, maybe he can figure out where he is.  
  
Except all he can see is stars.  Above, below, to either side, nothing but stars, and he puts his hand flat against the glass.  A faint vibration hums through the window.  
  
Where _is_ this place?  
  
“Ah!”  The man’s voice is far too loud in the small room, especially after the silence that had come before.  
  
Spinning around, Yuusuke tries not to let how much the quick action hurts show.  
  
“You’re awake!”  The man in the silver pants and jacket grins at him, expression guilelessly pleased.  
  
Relaxing slightly, Yuusuke returns the man’s smile.  “I’m awake.  Could you tell me where I am?”  
  
“You’re on the _Gokai Galleon_ , home of the thirty-fifth Super Sentai team the Gokaigers!  And I’m Ikari Gai, otherwise know as Gokai Silver!”  The man strikes a pose as he speaks, still grinning ear to ear.  
  
Yuusuke can feel himself relaxing more, an answering grin on his face.  Whatever or whoever this man is, it really doesn’t seem like he’s dangerous.  “And how did I end up here?”  
  
“We rescued you, after your daring defense of the fair maiden!”  Gai takes a step forward, grin fading away.  “You don’t remember?”  
  
“I…”  He puts a hand up to his head, trying to sort through the images that he does have.  There was a world, and there were kaijin on the world.  Dangerous kaijin, and he flinches as he remembers bodies in the streets.  
  
They fought.  That much is obvious, from the way he feels.  Kaitou wasn’t with them, because Kaitou hadn’t been with them when they found this world.  Natsumi had been at his side, though, before she was injured.  And Tsukasa…  
  
No.  Tsukasa.  
  
“Whoa, steady there!”  Gai catches him as the world seems to tilt out from under his feet.  
  
Yuusuke can’t help but hiss out a quiet cry of pain, every place that Gai’s hands touch protesting the contact as too much pressure on barely-healed injuries.  “Where’s Natsumi?”  
  
“She and your friend Kaitou are here.  I can go find them, if you want.  We just thought it might be easier for you to heal away from the chaos that the rest of the ship can be.  I was supposed to be watching you, but I had to run to the head.”  Gai smiles tentatively at him.  “The head’s what you call the bathroom on a pirate ship.”  
  
“Natsumi’s okay, though?”  He waits for Gai’s nod before sighing in relief.  “And Kaitou’s here.  Tsukasa?”  
  
“Ah… we don’t know.  We found you guarding Natsumi.  Which was a fantastic display of heroism and camaraderie, if you don’t mind my saying.  It’s almost like you guys are a sentai team!  Red, blue, pink and white suits, which is a little bit of an odd combination but it’ll work.  That would make you the leader, then, right?  It’s a very leaderly thing to do, sacrificing yourself for your team-mates.  Though you didn’t die, which is always a plus.  Marvelous has tried doing the same thing a few times for us, and it really isn’t as satisfying to be on the receiving end of a gift like that as you’d think it would be.”  
  
Yuusuke has no idea what the man’s talking about.  If he respects things like heroism and sacrifice, though, he must be one of the good guys.  
  
Probably.  
  
He needs to find Natsumi.  It’s almost a compulsion, as he pieces together the fragments of memory that he has.  She had been hurt, badly.  He had tried to protect her, but it had seemed like a never-ending battle, and he just _hurt_ so much…  
  
Hurt because he got them involved in the war, and the war may have killed Tsukasa, and it almost killed him and Natsumi.  
  
“ _Get back here, you damn sneak-thief!_ ”  
  
It’s a woman’s voice, ringing down the corridor outside the door Gai had entered through.  Yuusuke tenses, dragging the man further into the room so that they’ve got their backs to the window, waiting to see what trouble’s going to come their way.  
  
Kaitou ducks into the room a moment later, shutting the door quickly behind him.  He turns to them with one of his trademark mischievous smirks, propping Diend on his right shoulder and giving a small salute with his left hand.  “Good to see you, Yuusuke.”  
  
“Kaitou… what did you do?”  Yuusuke finds himself relaxing again.  Whatever trouble Kaitou brings, it’s usually something that they can talk their way out of.  
  
“I didn’t do anything!”  Kaitou gives him an injured look, crossing his arms in front of his chest.  “Just because some of the pirates get their backs up about a few missing rings…”  
  
The door to the room flies open, but Kaitou side-steps gracefully to keep from being struck by it.  A woman in a black and white striped shirt and a yellow jacket strides through, glaring at Kaitou.  
  
Kaitou ducks behind Yuusuke, and it’s suddenly very crowded in the room.  
  
“He’s a thief!”  The woman jabs a finger at Kaitou.  “He stole from our treasure chest.”  
  
“I’m pretty sure a lot of the things in that chest were stolen by you, Luka.”  Gai rubs at the back of his neck, looking highly uncomfortable with the situation.  “I’m not sure accusing our guests of stealing something is the best—”  
  
“I know he did it!”  Luka’s face takes on a stubborn cast, and she crosses her arms in front of her chest as she continues to glare at Kaitou.  “I’ve seen the way he looks at things.  And the way he uses his hands—trust me, I know a thief’s moves when I see them.  _And_ he was by the chest right before I noticed they were gone.”  
  
“I’m wounded!”  Kaitou places his hand over his heart.  “For a _pirate_ to be accusing _me_ of doing something like this—”  
  
Sighing, Yuusuke turns to Kaitou and gathers him into a tight hug.  “It’s good to see you, Kaitou.”  
  
Kaitou freezes for a moment before returning the embrace.  “Good to see you looking a little less like a zombie.  You had Natsumi worried.”  
  
“I’m sure I did.”  Pulling away from Kaitou, Yuusuke holds out his hand to the female pirate.  “Are these what you were missing?”  
  
Two rings sit in the center of his palm, both gorgeous pieces of art with large stones set in the center.  He doesn’t know much about jewelry, but Yuusuke suspects they’re worth a good bit.  
  
“I told you!”  Luka grabs the rings, slipping both of them onto her fingers to join the rings that are already there.  Giving Gai an I-told-you-so look, she smiles at Yuusuke.  “Thank you.”  
  
“No probem.  He does this sometimes.”  Turning back to Kaitou, he raises his eyebrows.  “Though he isn’t going to do this again here.  Right?”  
  
Kaitou laughs, hooking his thumbs in the pockets of his pants.  “I was just trying to keep her on her toes, Yuusuke.  Just a game.  Besides, from one thief to another, there should be better safeguards on your treasure chest.”  
  
“It’s not where the real treasure lives.”  Gai shakes his head.  “It’s something that Luka and Marvelous keep for fun, but it isn’t really that important.  Though you shouldn’t steal things, Kaitou-san.”  
  
“Because thieving is bad, and hurts people, and isn’t something that I should do.”  Rolling his eyes, Kaitou leans against Yuusuke’s shoulder.  “Great.  Living with a zanier version of you would drive anyone to a life of crime, Yuusuke.”  
  
“I’d say I’m sorry for you, but I’m not.”  Turning back to Luka, Yuusuke adopts a more serious expression.  “Do you know where Natsumi is?”  
  
“Yeah.  She’s in the kitchen, cooking with Don and Ahim.”  Luka steps back, into the corridor.  “Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour and get you to her.”  
  
Gai dashes out into the hallway.  “I’ll help!”  
  
Going to follow them, Yuusuke finds himself drawn up short by Kaitou’s arms wrapping around his chest.  
  
“It _is_ good to have you back.”  Kaitou’s voice is a quiet whisper in his ear.  “No matter what stupid things you’ve done or do.  But you really need to stop giving back things that I’ve rightfully stolen.  Especially if they were stolen by the previous owner.”  
  
“You need to not annoy our hosts.”  His hand wraps around Kaitou’s hands, and it somehow hurts less when Kaitou’s touching him than when Gai did.  Maybe it’s just that he’s still healing quickly, getting used to being awake and moving again.  “At least not until I know what we need to do next.  All right?”  
  
“All right.”  Kaitou sighs, pulling away slowly.  
  
“And keep your fingers out of my pockets.”  Yuusuke gives one of Kaitou’s hands a soft smack.  “These aren’t even my clothes.  I’m sure there’s nothing you’d want to steal in them.”  
  
Kaitou’s smirk is far too self-satisfied as he shrugs and sidles in front of Yuusuke.  “You never know where you’ll find the treasure you’re looking for.”  
  
Shaking his head, Yuusuke follows Kaitou out into the hallway.  
  
***  
  
“No.”  Joe shakes his head, turning just slightly so he can watch both Marvelous and the screen at the same time.  “I’ve never seen anything like it.”  
  
“Do you think the Zangyack could have created it?”  Marvelous’ face is set in a slight frown, his eyes focused on the images playing across the viewer.  
  
“I suppose.”  Shrugging, Joe turns his full attention to Marvelous, no longer wanting to watch the things happening on the screen.  “They’ve always been willing to spend a ridiculous amount of money and time developing weapons of destruction.”  
  
“It says Kamen Ride.”  Marvelous’ finger points toward the screen, where the armored warrior flies through hazy golden cards before striking its target with devastating force.  “You can hear it over the screaming, faintly.  That’s the word that Natsumi kept saying.  Kamen Riders.”  
  
“It might be saying that.”  Shaking his head again, Joe turns his back on the screen entirely.  “Probably it is.  What do want me to say, Marvelous?  The description’s close enough.  You’re probably right.”  
  
Marvelous’ hand falls on his shoulder, a quiet, steady pressure.  After a moment Joe allows himself to relax, forcing muscles that were ready to fight to stand down.  
  
“I’m sorry.”  Marvelous doesn’t pull his hand back, his fingers tightening just slightly.  “I know what this is making you think of.  But I needed someone to confirm things with before I show it to our… guests.”  
  
“Well, consider it confirmed.”  Taking a step forward, away from his captain’s hold, Joe turns back to face him.  “I can’t tell you whether they’re lying.  I’d like to think they aren’t.  There was too much risk with not enough chance of reward if this is a set-up.  Which means either _they_ were lied to, and their friend isn’t who he claimed to be… or the Zangyack did to him what they did to Sid.”  
  
“Ah.”  Marvelous nods, crossing his arms in front of his chest while the terrible footage plays in the background.  “That’s about how I see it, too.”  
  
Joe can’t help watching the images playing on the viewer behind Marvelous.  It’s a loop, starting with news footage picked up from intergalactic stations and ending with snippets of distress calls sent from the planet in question.  The Zangyack offensive is impressive, the ranks of common soldiers swelled by monsters that Joe hasn’t seen before.  Their leader is a creature in pink-and-black armor, a deadly effective fighter who wades through the hap-hazard defensive troops as though they were children.  
  
Children who are being murdered, slaughtered, and even those who surrender are given no quarter.  Those who flee are dragged down by monsters.  Those who fight lose.  
  
Was this man a hero, once?  Was this man a good man, like Sid was a good man?  
  
Will they be telling these strangers from strange worlds that they’ll have to murder their obviously-beloved companion, because the Zangyack already killed his soul?  
  
“That’s enough.”  Marvelous presses a switch on the _Galleon’s_ control panel, stopping the images.  “I’ll go talk to them.  You… do whatever you need to do, Joe.”  
  
He needs to make the war stop.  He needs to find a way to make the Zangyack pay—to make the commanders, the leaders, the ones who actually know what horrors they’re causing pay.  
  
The crew’s working on all of that, though.  The best thing he can do right now is help their new allies understand exactly what the Zangyack are capable of, and what needs to be done to fix it.  “I’ll come with you, Marvelous.”  
  
Marvelous pauses, his hand on the door.  “You’re sure?”  
  
“I’m sure.”  Clapping his captain on the back, Joe nods.  “It’s the right thing to do.”  
  
“Doesn’t mean it’s the thing you have to do.  Still, I’ll never say no to having you at my side.”  
  
It’s not something Marvelous would have said, once.  It’s not something Joe would have wanted or needed to hear, once.  But they’ve all been changed by their time on Earth, their time fighting the Zangyack, their brushes with death, and Joe finds himself smiling.  “Ah.  I know.”  
  
The words don’t make the images still playing in his mind any less vivid.  They don’t make the pain of what happened to Sid any duller.  
  
But they still somehow make both a little easier to bear, and all things considered, that’s more than enough reason to stay with the pirate captain.  
  
***  
  
“These are delicious!”  Ahim smiles, placing her right hand in front of her mouth as she chews delicately on a piece of sugar cookie.  
  
Natsumi blushes.  “It’s really not that impressive.  Anyone could make these.”  
  
“Sure.”  Doc swallows his mouthful of cookie.  “But it’s a simple recipe, easy to do quickly, and then you spend most of your time making the end result look cool.”  
  
“The frosting is delicious, and the ability to use so many different colors in decoration means that personalizing everything is straightforward.”  Ahim finishes the last of her cookie and reaches for the bowl of green frosting.  Dipping one finger in the frosting, she dabs a streak across Don’s cheek.  “Such as this one.  It’s really just the right color for you, Doc.”  
  
Don gives a disgruntled sound, not quite a squeak but not loud enough to be a scream, and grabs for the bowl of pink frosting.  “Yeah, well, this is definitely your color!”  
  
The two have random streaks of frosting all over their faces and are grinning ear to ear within thirty seconds.  Ahim moves with grace and fluidity, and it’s easy for Natsumi to see her as a fighter; Don’s moves are harder to predict or follow, and seem to be decided on at the same time they’re implemented.  
  
The two pirates stop when Don’s wrested the frosting bowl from Ahim’s hands, and Ahim’s somehow ended up holding the bowl with the pink frosting that he had.  They laugh together, smiling brightly, and turn towards Natsumi.  
  
“So…”  Don tries to spin the bowl of frosting around on his finger, fumbling and catching it again just before it hits the floor.  “What had you said your armor color was before, Natsumi?”  
  
“Oh no…”  She backs up a step.  “I’m already borrowing these clothes from Luka.  You really don’t want to get them covered in—hey!”  
  
She grabs the bowl of blue frosting off the counter as they both come at her, dipping her hand in to arm herself.  This is ridiculous.  This is childish.  
  
It’s also ridiculously fun, and she’s laughing along with them by the time they all collapse on the floor.  There’s frosting on the floor, the counter, and all over them, in various combinations of red, black, pink, blue, grey, yellow and green.  The cookies they had made are just about the only part of the kitchen that’s safe and untouched.  
  
“Oh.”  Sliding down against the edge of the wall, Natsumi waits for the last of the laughter to fade.  Don and Ahim both settle down, as well, sitting next to each other against the counter across from her.  “That was fun.”  
  
“Yes.”  Ahim crosses her skirts demurely, as though she weren’t covered in a rainbow’s worth of frosting.  “Yes, it was indeed.”  
  
“Won’t the others be angry at the clean-up?”  Biting her lips, she tries to imagine Marvelous cleaning frosting off the ceiling.  
  
Then she tries to imagine Marvelous in the kitchen rather than in his chair, stalking through the halls, or steering the ship through the vastness of space and realizes how absurd a question it is.  
  
Don apparently finds it amusing, as well, because he laughs and waves a hand in dismissal.  “Gai’s the only other person who comes in here regularly, and he loves doing just about anything.  Joe bakes sometimes, but that’s about it.”  
  
“I guess we’ll have to take care of it, then.  At least the ceiling isn’t too high.”  How they had managed to _get_ frosting on the ceiling Natsumi’s not certain, but it stares down at her happily from its perch.  
  
“We’ll do that.”  Ahim runs her finger across Don’s cheek, gathering a collection of green, pink, and yellow icing before sticking it in her mouth.  “In a few minutes.  Would you like another cookie, Natsumi-san?”  
  
“I would.”  Rising to her feet, she gestures for the two pirates to stay where they are.  “You guys?”  
  
Don nods an affirmative, while Ahim just smiles and claps her hands to show her approval of the idea.  
  
They probably made more cookies than they needed to.  There’s a small mountain of frosted delicacies taking up about half of the counter.  Ten special ones have been set aside for later, but that still leaves more than enough for her to choose from.  Grabbing a sun for Ahim, a moon for Don, and a small star for herself, she turns back toward the pirates.  
  
Only to be confronted by Yuusuke, standing uncertainly in the entrance to the kitchen, an expression of bemused puzzlement on his face.  
  
She doesn’t think before charging at him and gathering him into a fierce embrace.  He’s all right.  Despite the way he had looked, despite the fact that he’s been unconscious for almost seventy-two hours, he’s all right.  
  
He gives a soft cry of pain and his knees go out from under him, but he pulls her closer anyway.  It results in a brief, almost-funny dance as she tries to relax her grip and not hurt him without letting him fall to the ground.  
  
They figure it out eventually, though.  They always do.  
  
“You’re okay?”  The words are a whisper as she pulls back just slightly, reaching up to touch his cheek.  He’s still paler than usual, actually seems _thinner_ than usual through his borrowed clothes, which is saying a lot for Yuusuke.  The bruises have mostly faded from his hands and face, though faint scar lines and bunches of scar tissue still show on his neck and the knuckles of his hands.  
  
Bruises, scars, injuries he acquired defending her, and she presses her body gently against his again, trying to convey without words how grateful she is and how scared she was.  
  
“I’m all right.”  He smiles, hugging her tightly before pulling loose from her hold.  “You’re all right?  I remember you being hurt…”  
  
“I’ll be all right.”  It’s true.  She’s pretty much one giant bruise from head to toe, but it’s healing.  Even the awful gashes on her chest and back are covered by scabs, which have started to itch annoyingly on a frequent basis.  
  
“You’re covered in icing.”  He uses his finger to wipe the bridge of her nose, getting a smear of pink frosting and sticking it in his mouth.  “Good icing.”  
  
“Yeah.”  Smiling, she takes a step back.  Her hands don’t quite want to let go of his arms, though.  “I kind of got you covered in icing, too.”  
  
“I don’t mind.”  Shrugging, Yuusuke looks down at the rainbow transferred from her clothes to his.  “As long as whoever’s clothes these are don’t mind me borrowing some more while I wash them.”  
  
“Doc won’t mind.”  Luka’s voice comes from the main gathering room of the pirate ship, just behind Yuusuke.  “I think he’ll just be grateful you’re not another heathen who doesn’t know what laundry is.”  
  
“I didn’t say you don’t know what laundry is!”  Don protests the statement, standing to provide more room as Yuusuke steps inside the kitchen.  Luka moves into the entranceway, leaning against it and arching an eyebrow.  Pointing at her, Doc shakes his head.  “I said you three had no concept of _how often_ you were supposed to do laundry, which was _incredibly_ true in the most _frightening_ way possible.”  
  
“Why would we need to know that when we’ve got a you?”  Sauntering over to Don and Ahim, Luka pats them both gingerly on the shoulders.  Her eyes move to the counter, widening in surprise and pleasure.  “Oh, treats!”  
  
“Cookies.”  Smiling at Yuusuke, Natsumi nods toward the piles.  “I made one specially for you, if you’re hungry and it sounds good.”  
  
“I’m _starving_.”  Yuusuke steps closer to the counter, eyes suddenly fixed on the cookies.  
  
“I don’t suppose you have one for me, Natsumelon?”  Lounging against the doorway that Luka had occupied a moment before, Kaitou gives her a wounded look.  
  
“I do, actually.”  Picking up the tray that has the four cookies she had made, Natsumi presents it first to Yuusuke and then to Kaitou.  
  
Yuusuke’s cookie is a halfway-fair representation of Kuuga.  The left horn is bigger than the right, and she had to simplify the design, but it’s still obvious what it’s supposed to be.  Picking it up gently, Yuusuke grins at her.  “Thank you, Natsumi.”  
  
Darting into the kitchen, Kaitou grabs the Diend cookie before heading back to the doorway.  “Arts and crafts time with cookies.  I like it.”  
  
Yuusuke’s already eaten his cookie and is busy licking the frosting from his fingers.  “Natsumi, that was fantastic.  That may be the best cookie I’ve ever had in my life.”  
  
“Did you actually taste it?”  Giving him a look of mixed dismay and worry, Natsumi sets the plate down.  “I’ll make you some real food, if you can last another fifteen or twenty minutes.”  
  
“I’ll be fine.”  He already has another cookie in hand, though he’s forcing himself to eat it more slowly, his hand moving towards his mouth two or three times between each bite.  
  
“Do I get food too?”  Kaitou gives her a lost-puppy look.  
  
“Not unless you want to help cook.  Dinner’s only in three hours, and you haven’t been comatose for days.”  
  
“ _Days?_ ”  The dismay on Yuusuke’s face is obvious as he swallows another bite.  “And we still haven’t found Tsukasa?”  
  
“Three days, and no.”  She won’t let her eyes go to the plate with the final two cookies on it.  They’ll find Tsukasa soon, and then she’ll eat hers while he eats his, and everything will be all right again.  “But don’t worry.  We will.”  
  
“I think we have.”  
  
There’s only one man on the ship with a voice like that, and Natsumi takes a step back as the pirate captain appears in the kitchen entrance.  Her heart wants to leap at the news that they’ve had word of Tsukasa, but there’s something in the way he says it and the grim set to his expression that keeps it from doing so.  
  
“Where?”  Kaitou asks the question, standing barely a pace in front of Marvelous.  She can’t see his expression, since his back’s to her, but she has a bad suspicion that he’s glaring at the pirate from the way his shoulders are locked.  “When?”  
  
“Not long ago.”  Marvelous crosses his arms, staring straight at Kaitou for a moment before shifting his gaze to each of the rest of them in turn.  “You’ll all come and watch what I found.  Then we’ll discuss where to go from here.”  
  
Spinning on his heel, Marvelous heads out of the kitchen.  
  
The rest of the Gokaigers follow immediately, suddenly all business despite the fact that two of them still have streaks of frosting on them.  Don throws her and Ahim a towel before chasing after Marvelous, keeping one for himself as well.  
  
Taking Yuusuke’s hand in hers, Natsumi follows the pirates.  
  
She’s got a very bad feeling she isn’t going to like what they’re going to see, but they don’t really have much choice in the matter.

 


	3. Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After exchanging information, the Gokaigers, Natsumi, Yuusuke, and Kaitou prepare for a battle with Tsukasa's Zangyack armada.

_Part Three: Pink_  
  
“I’d have to say that was an immensely successful campaign.”  Tsukasa smiles, leaning back in the command chair of their primary ship and crossing one leg over the other with a dramatic flair that isn’t really warranted by the situation.  
  
“You did succeed in crushing the rebellions.”  Rerano stands next to the chair, feathers held stiffly upright as he considers the results of their last two days of work.  “But you sacrificed your four highest-ranked Action Commanders to do so.”  
  
“I got the job done, Rerano.”  Tsukasa turns the full force of his smile on him, and Rerano is struck again by how _cold_ the expression is.  “If they couldn’t handle the pressure, then they shouldn’t have been that highly-ranked in the first place.  Four planets reclaimed for the Zangyack in less than two days is quite a bit better than what most of your people are doing.”  
  
“Most of our people have been fighting this war for years, and _most_ of our people don’t have the… advantage of being able to summon monsters from other worlds to help them.”  
  
“It’s why you wanted me.”  Waving a hand dismissively, Tsukasa turns back to the large view-screen that dominates the bridge.  “You’re lucky some of my contacts are still intact.  News of this offensive will spread quickly, and those who were considering standing against me will _reconsider_ the wisdom of it.”  
  
“Standing against _us_.”  His feathers are pointing straight up, creating a blue-and-red cloud around his body that makes him look almost twice as large as he is.  “Stand against the Zangyack.”  
  
“Of course.”  Tsukasa gives him a suspicious look.  “What else would I mean except stand against the Zangyack empire?  You’ve really been acting quite contrary lately.  I’m beginning to think you don’t _want_ us to succeed.”  
  
The others on the bridge turn to stare at him, the dogormin guards with their dull expressions, the newly-promoted action commanders with the hungry expressions of starving beasts being offered meat, and the alien monstrosities from other worlds with expressions that are impossible to read.  “No.  Of course I want us to succeed.  I just want to make certain you’re thinking clearly about all the costs.”  
  
“Of course you do.”  Smiling at him, an expression of pleasure that doesn’t reach the human’s eyes, Tsukasa inclines his head.  “I will allow you to do so.  Please go consider the ramifications of our crushing the rebellion on Poralar in your lab while I report on my progress to Empress Kansanin.”  
  
It’s a dismissal.  That much is very obvious, and from the way some of the Action Commanders reach for their weapons they intend to enforce it.  
  
Inclining his head in acceptance, Rerano forces his feathers to smooth back down.  “I will do so, Tsukasa.  I’ll report my findings to you as soon as I have… properly considered all of them.”  
  
“Do that.”  Tsukasa gestures to one of the alien creatures, a beast that looks like an Earth horse but stylized and formed out of stained glass.  Rerano knows that the creatures are harder than steel, though, having seen them fight multiple times.  “Would you be kind enough to accompany the good doctor?  He can explain to you what he’s been doing, and perhaps the two of you can come up with something useful.”  
  
“As you command, Tsukasa-sama.”  The fangire does what’s obviously a salute, clapping its fist to its chest and then throwing its open hand into the air.  “Just be sure to call us for the next battle.”  
  
“Oh, believe me.”  Tsukasa’s smile fades as his eyes turn to the view-screen again.  “I’ll be sure to call you both for the next battle.”  
  
Walking back toward his lab, the fangire guard at his heel, Rerano has a sinking suspicion that Tsukasa will do just that, and _not_ because the human values his assistance.  
  
***  
  
“No.”  Shaking, Natsumi buries her head in her hands, trying to block out the images and the sounds.  “No!”  
  
“That’s your friend.”  Marvelous’ voice cuts through the sounds of people fighting and dying, the painfully familiar calls from DecaDriver.  “That’s Tsukasa.”  
  
“Well, this is unexpected.”  Kaitou’s voice is far too calm, almost amused by the situation.  
  
She jerks her head away from her hands to glare at him.  How can he be calm?  How can he just dismiss this as… as _unexpected_?  
  
Katiou’s arms are crossed in front of his chest, his face carefully impassive as he watches the screen.  She opens her mouth to scream at him, to take out some of the rage and confusion and betrayal she feels on this too-willing target, but is stopped by Yuusuke’s arm going across her shoulders.  
  
It hurts, pulling on the healing injuries on both her chest and her back as he puts most of his weight on her.  His expression is open, aching, and tears stand out in his eyes, but he doesn’t look away from the images on the screen.  
  
If he can do it, when he’s been awake for barely an hour, when he’s been _murdered_ by Decade before, she can do it.  
  
The footage is shaky, filmed by someone running away from the Zangyack army, taking cover behind buildings that have been damaged by bombing and weapons’ fire.  She recognizes about a quarter of the monsters in the Zangyack army, because they’re creatures that shouldn’t be there.  Makamou dash through the ranks of trained soldiers and defensive forces, slaughtering left and right—sometimes Zangyack, sometimes defenders.  Fangire kill with their stingers, sucking the life force from soldiers who are running away.  Orphenoch use their tentacles to kill the enemy, a handful of which rise again and are quickly corralled into a small space guarded by five of the undead monsters.  
  
“Maybe it’s not him.”  Yuusuke’s voice is hesitant, uncertain.  “Maybe it’s someone else in Decade’s armor.”  
  
“It’s his fighting style.”  She can’t seem to stop herself from trembling.  “And those are Rider enemies.  They shouldn’t be here.”  
  
Marvelous stops the tape with a touch of his hand on the _Galleon_ ’s control panel.  A different, fuzzy image appears, this time with no sound.  The camera is held at an angle, giving the whole world an oddly left-tilted appearance.  
  
Tsukasa is centered in the camera field, though it twitches left and right in a nauseating dance.  Doorways to other worlds are present on both sides of him, discharging Fangire and Orphenoch.  His clothes are wrong, and Natsumi has to force herself not to back away from the screen.  The leather jacket is black and pink, his pants black but with Decade’s signature down the left pant leg, and it’s almost but not quite his DaiShocker uniform.  His expression is numb, practically empty, as he holds out a card and slides it into DecaDriver.  The cameraman turns and runs as Decade’s armor coalesces around Tsukasa’s form.  
  
She doesn’t know who’s shaking worse, Yuusuke or her, as Marvelous turns off the view-screen.  
  
“I’m so sorry.”  Ahim’s hand brushes against Natsumi’s shoulder.  
  
“What did they do to him?”  Yuusuke’s hand tightens on her shoulder as he speaks, his voice thick with emotion.  “He wouldn’t have done that on his own.  Not again.”  
  
“ _Again?_ ”  Luka stares at Yuusuke, jaw clenched tight.  “What, you mean he’s done something like this _before_?”  
  
Yuusuke flinches back, eyes falling to the deck.  His trembling increases, and Natsumi realizes again how pale he still seems.  
  
“It’s a bad story.  A painful story.”  Glaring at Luka, at Marvelous, at Joe, because they’re the ones suddenly watching Yuusuke and her with suspicion, Natsumi pulls Yuusuke a little closer to her.  “But Tsukasa’s a true Kamen Rider now.  He’s saved more worlds than you’ve ever seen.  He wouldn’t have done something like this if he hadn’t been manipulated.”  
  
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say he’d _never_ have a relapse back to his evil overlord days.”  Kaitou still stands slightly apart from them, but he’s moved closer.  The pirates have also drifted together, leaving them as two teams facing each other semi-antagonistically.  “But I agree.  Especially after what the Zangyack did to Natsumi and Yuusuke, Tsukasa would be more likely to slaughter all of them than decide to join them.”  
  
Marvelous considers them for a long minute, walking up and down the confines of the room as if examining them from a different angle will make the answer more obvious.  Finally he nods.  “I’d like to hear the whole story from you at some point, but for now we’ll just say I believe you about Tsukasa.  We know that the Zangyack are capable of brainwashing people.”  
  
“They did it to a friend of mine.”  Joe stands stiffly, expression closed.  
  
Natsumi waits for him to continue, but he doesn’t.  Finally she asks, “What happened?”  
  
“I killed him.”  Joe’s right hand clenches tight and then relaxes.  “Because there wasn’t any way to save him.  The only thing I could do was make sure the Zangyack couldn’t keep using him to do things he never would have done.”  
  
Yuusuke flinches again, pulling himself free from her hold a moment later and standing straight.  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but… you _looked_ for a way to save him?”  
  
Joe’s expression twists, rage and pain and disbelief all flashing across his usually-closed-off face.  
  
Before he can say anything Marvelous lays a hand on his shoulder.  “Of course we looked for a way.  We had others look for a way.  There wasn’t one.”  
  
“There has to be.”  She feels cold, without Yuusuke pressed up against her side, and hugs herself tightly.  “There has to be something—”  
  
“There isn’t.”  Joe speaks with a bitter, pained finality, though his expression softens as he looks at her.  “I wish there was.  But there isn’t, and the sooner you can come to terms with that the easier things will be for all of you.”  
  
“No.  I won’t believe that.”  Yuusuke shakes his head, face set in a stubborn expression.  “There’s always a way.  There _has_ to be a way.”  
  
Marvelous hits Yuusuke before she can do anything.  She understands why, in a way.  She had been watching Joe’s face while Yuusuke spoke, saw how each sentence carved a deeper line of pain and uncertainty into his expression.  There’s no doubt in her mind that Marvelous would know what his crewmen were feeling.  
  
It doesn’t stop her from hitting him back.  Yuusuke’s been through enough.  She doesn’t care if the action’s maybe-semi-justified, no one gets away with hurting him in front of her ever again.  
  
Gai and Kaitou break them apart before anything more can happen.  Kaitou positions himself between her and the pirates, DienDriver in hand, though he keeps the barrel pointed at the deck.  Gai shoves his captain back, using his body as a shield to keep the pirates away from them.  If he’s wary about Kaitou being armed behind him, it doesn’t show.  
  
“Whoa there, slow down!”  Gai stands spread-legged, both arms waving frantically as though trying to fan away the tension in the room.  “Turning this into a brawl isn’t going to help anyone!”  
  
“Yeah?  It might make me feel better right about now.”  There’s an angry glint in Marvelous’ eye that she doesn’t like, and Natsumi takes a step back, standing defensively by Yuusuke.  
  
“I’m sorry.”  Yuusuke straightens slowly.  There’s blood on his left cheek, smeared from a split lip that’s healing as she watches.  “Please, everyone, calm down.  I don’t want to make this a fight.”  
  
“You didn’t, Yuusuke.”  Kaitou still speaks cheerfully, though his eyes scan the Gokaigers, jumping from one to another.  “Getting hit usually doesn’t count as starting a fight.”  
  
“I know.”  Stepping up to Kaitou’s side, Yuusuke’s hand closes on DienDriver.  “I said something I shouldn’t have, though.  Something that was hurtful.  So I’m sorry, and if we could all put our weapons away I would appreciate it.”  
  
“Yuusuke.”  Kaitou’s voice has just a slight edge to it, now, though his expression is still cheerful.  “If you don’t take your hand off my Driver, you’ll lose it.”  
  
“Hey, don’t threaten your team-mate!”  Spinning around so he’s facing Kaitou, Gai wags a finger at him.  “Especially not when he’s being the most reasonable one among you.”  
  
“All right, enough.”  Sighing, Natsumi sits down on the deck.  “We could go back and forth like this for hours, and that isn’t going to help anyone.  Yuusuke’s sorry he maybe spoke inappropriately, though you should give some leniency for the fact that he still looks like a stiff wind could knock him over.  Marvelous is very sorry he hit an injured man.  Right, Captain?”  
  
“Ah.”  Marvelous raises a hand to the cheek she struck, expression half-amused, half-considering.  “I’d say you’ve managed to convince me that I’m sorry, yeah.  If everyone wanted to put this little incident behind us, discussing options sounds like a good idea.”  
  
There’s only one chair, and Marvelous settles into it as though it’s the most natural thing in the world.  The rest of the Gokaigers gather around him, the expressions on their faces ranging from quietly apologetic in Gai’s case to uncertain in Ahim’s case and amused acceptance in Joe’s.  
  
Kaitou settles down on her left side on the ground, and Yuusuke settles down on her right.  Taking a deep breath, Natsumi pushes her hair behind her ears before speaking.  “So Tsukasa’s working for the Zangyack, probably because he’s been brainwashed.”  
  
“Yes.”  Marvelous inclines his head.  “He’s providing them with soldiers, as well as that ridiculous armor of his.  The way I figure it, if we’re going to finish crushing the Zangyack Empire, we need to take him out.”  
  
He says it calmly, but Natsumi can see the way his fingers tighten on the arm of his chair and his eyes glance at Joe.  Joe studies the ground, expression carefully blank.  
  
“You don’t have to assist us.”  Ahim makes the suggestion quietly, almost hesitantly.  “If it would be easier for you—”  
  
Kaitou cuts her off with a brief shake of his head.  “If anyone’s going to kill Tsukasa, it’s going to be us.”  
  
“We owe it to him.”  Swallowing hard, Natsumi tries not to let her arms start shaking again.  Not visibly, at least.  “To do that much, at least, if there really is no hope.”  
  
Yuusuke tenses as she talks.  When he finally speaks the words come slowly, as though he’s being careful with each one.  “When your friend was… changed… was it the same?  He looked like himself, but he worked for the Zangyack?”  
  
The rest of the Gokaigers glance at Marvelous, who looks to Joe, eyebrows raised just slightly.  
  
Closing his eyes for a moment, Joe shakes his head.  “No.  They changed his body, too.  They made him into a cyborg, with all the fighting techniques and strategical knowledge he’d acquired before but without the memories or the… the soul that had made him who he was.”  
  
“So it’s different with Tsukasa.”  Hope burns bright in Yuusuke’s eyes, and he sits up a bit straighter.  “It’s not exactly the same as with your friend.”  
  
“They may not have had time to change his body, or they may not have had the resources.”  Luka shrugs, fiddling with one of the rings on her finger.  Not looking at Joe, not looking at Yuusuke, and Natsumi knows her well enough now to know that she’s uncomfortable.  “The Empire’s reeling, pretty much falling apart by the day.  I know you want to hope, but I wouldn’t get too—”  
  
“No.”  Joe speaks the word quietly, watching Yuusuke.  
  
“No?”  Marvelous looks at his first mate.  “No what?”  
  
“Don’t try to take away their hope.”  Joe smiles, a brief, almost sad expression.  “I kept hoping, once I figured out what they had done to Sid.  I checked every option—sometimes I did stupid things checking every option.  It’s what you have to do, to make it all right when you finally put them down.  So we don’t have a right to take that away from them.”  
  
“To try to lessen and mitigate another’s pain is a noble task…”  Ahim’s voice is soft, almost too quiet to hear.  “But in this case we may have overstepped our bounds.”  
  
“We can’t let him keep killing people.”  Luka stares at her teammates, frowning.  “That isn’t an option.”  
  
“No.”  Turning away from them for a moment, Joe allows his head to fall forward.  “We can’t.”  
  
“We wouldn’t want to.”  Yuusuke speaks before Natsumi can, standing unsteadily.  “Tsukasa wouldn’t want us to allow that.  Just… don’t write him off just yet.  Let us try to talk to him—to capture him, if we can, instead of going in with the intent to kill him.”  
  
“ _Can_ you capture him?”  Standing to face Yuusuke, Marvelous crosses his arms in front of his chest.  “He’s a hell of fighter from what I’ve seen, and you guys aren’t in the best of shape.”  
  
“Kaitou’s fine.  Natsumi… if Tsukasa would hurt Natsumi, then he really is too far gone to save.”  There’s a curious twist to the way Yuusuke says the words, and Natsumi stands to lay her hand on his arm.  The scars of the Rider War still ache, sometimes, despite everything that’s come since then.  
  
“And you?”  Marvelous looks Yuusuke up and down.  “You look like you can barely stand.  You really want to fight him like that?”  
  
“I’m tougher than I look.”  Squaring his shoulders, Yuusuke offers the pirate captain a fierce grin.  “Give me a few hours and a good meal, and I’ll be able to give Tsukasa a good fight.”  
  
“All right.”  Marvelous turns to his people.  “We let them try, and if they can’t, someone puts him down.  Because the Zangyack Empire’s on its last legs, and every knife we put in its back is a good thing.  Agreed?”  
  
Joe just nods.  
  
“Agreed.”  Luka takes Ahim’s hand, holding it gently as the princess bites at her bottom lip for a moment.  
  
“Agreed.”  Smiling at them, Ahim clasps Luka’s hand.  “If there is a chance, we should let you have it.”  
  
“Agreed!”  Gai practically vibrates with energy.  “I think it’ll work out.  And if it doesn’t… well, we’ll be here for you guys, because it sounds like Kamen Riders are heroes too.”  
  
“Agreed.”  Doc leans against Joe’s side, looking worriedly at the swordsman.  “If Joe says it’s all right, how could any of us say otherwise?”  
  
“Simple.  By saying no.”  Spinning away from his crew to face Natsumi squarely again, Marvelous graces them with a fierce grin.  “But they didn’t.  Your friend’s army has conquered four worlds in the last forty-eight hours.  I’m pretty sure I know where he’s going to attack next.  We’ve got about eight hours until we’ll be there.”  
  
“We’ll be ready.”  She’s cold, head to toe, and her hands want to start shaking, but she’ll make sure she’s ready.  Tsukasa’s counting on them.  
  
“You won’t regret it.”  Yuusuke’s expression is set in equal parts fierce determination and burning hope.  It’s a good expression for him, and it makes her feel better.  It makes this less like the Rider War, seeing Yuusuke looking like himself, not trying to fight his own darkness and Tsukasa’s desperately cold retribution while losing both battles.  “We’ll stop Tsukasa.  I won’t let innocent people die for him, but I think we can save him.”  
  
“That’s because you’re somehow even rarer than him.”  Kaitou’s lips twitch up into an almost sad smile as he throws his arm over Yuusuke’s shoulder.  Diend is back in its holster, no longer being used as a threat.  “He may be a unique and shiny treasure, but you’re too damn _nice_ and _hopeful_ to be real.”  
  
The pirates relax as Kaitou talks, their tight group breaking up into smaller ones.  Ahim and Luka stand together, Luka still holding Ahim’s hand; Don stays by Joe, not quite touching him.  Gai continues to stand at Marvelous’ side, and grins brightly at the Riders, obviously pleased.  And Marvelous…  
  
Marvelous watches them with a slight smile, but it’s impossible for her to read what he means by it.  Does he approve of their determination?  Does he approve of their loyalty?  She thinks he does, but she wouldn’t bet her soul on it.  
  
“Don, Gai, make dinner.  Make it something good, too.”  
  
Marvelous’ command is met with immediate action, the two pirates in question heading toward the kitchen.  Gai starts babbling out the names of potential meals before they’ve gone a half-dozen steps, Don vetoing most of the suggestions with a fierce shake of his head.  
  
“Everyone else… do whatever you need to do.”  The pirate stalks over to the door, smiling fiercely, though Natsumi has the strangest impression that there’s a brittle anger and sorrow beneath the good humor.  “We’ve apparently got an extra-universal treasure to save.”  
  
***  
  
Kaitou sits against the wall of the _Galleon’s_ main room, a deck of cards that Gai lent him shuffling between his hands.  Yuusuke’s stretched out on the floor next to him, sleeping quietly, his head pillowed on Kaitou’s jacket.  
  
Settling down next to Kaitou with a long sigh, Natsumi watches his fingers guide the cards.  He has nice hands, fast and sure, and the way they slip over the cards is almost hypnotic.  Leaning her head against his shoulder, she frowns at the unfamiliar, alien symbols that are revealed as he flips the deck over.  
  
“You’re being quiet.”  His shoulder shifts under her head, giving her a slight nudge.  
  
“I think I’m running out of things to say.”  Dinner had been a slightly strained affair.  The food had been good, but there was a tension among and between the two crews that had been missing in the days before.  
  
Some of them had handled it better than others—Yuusuke was good at talking to people, and had managed to keep a very civilized conversation going with Gai, Doc and Ahim throughout most of the meal.  But the rest of them—the fighters, her mind wants to classify them as, though that’s not quite a fair way to divide them—didn’t speak much.  
  
“Natsumelon, out of things to say?”  Kaitou shakes his head, fingers continuing to tease the cards apart and together.  “The world must be close to ending.”  
  
“I don’t talk _that_ much.”  She leans harder against him, shivering slightly.  It’s ridiculous, how cold she’s been lately.  
  
(She won’t respond to his comment about the world coming to an end.  It’s said too jokingly for the terrified ache it opens up in her heart to have any place here.)  
  
“Mmmm, maybe not.”  He gives her a questioning look, holding the cards out toward her.  “Want to play?”  
  
“Do you have any idea _how_ to play?”  She’s seen the pirates engaged in various games with the cards, but she hasn’t had a chance to learn any of the rules to them.  There’s been too much else on her mind.  
  
“Not a clue.  I haven’t really been looking at what kind of patterns they might have.  Do they come in sets?  Do they have numbers?”  He spreads a different group of cards out in front of his face, frowning at the unfamiliar pictures.  “Nice artwork, though.”  
  
“Don’t even think about keeping them.”  Raising her thumb in a half-hearted threat, she smiles tiredly at the thief.  “Stealing from Gai would be like kicking a puppy, all right?”  
  
“So many accusations.”  Sulking, Kaitou hands the cards to her.  “First Yuusuke, now you.  I only steal things with value, you know.  A handful of pretty papers isn’t really worth my time.”  
  
“Unless it’s very pretty money.”  
  
“Unless it’s very pretty money.”  Kaitou’s smile is guilelessly pleased as he repeats the words.  “Though money’s only worth something in a stable economy.  I usually steal things that transfer more easily between worlds—weapons, jewelry, cool gadgets or trinkets.”  
  
“Or people.”  She makes the addendum in a gently teasing voice.  
  
He pauses for a moment, head tilted slightly to the side.  All the muscles in his shoulder and arm tense against her body.  “Ah.  And people.  They’re a useful treasure to have.  Easier to manipulate when you can just have them summoned through cards, though.”  
  
“I imagine they are.”  Closing her eyes, she draws a deep breath, lets it out, takes another, and forces the words she’s wanted to ask for the last few hours out.  “Are you planning on staying?”  
  
He doesn’t answer for a long time, and she knows she should open her eyes.  She should look at him, try to read his expression, and gauge from that if the words he’ll eventually tell her are even true.  
  
But she doesn’t want truth, not if he’s going to give her a pretty lie. There’s going to be far too much truth in the near future, anyway.  
  
“I’ve never lied, you know.”  Kaitou’s arm goes around her shoulders, holding her close to him.  “I don’t think I have, at least.  Do you think I would?”  
  
“I think… you’ll do what you need to in order to survive.”  She opens her eyes slowly, because it’s obvious that he wants her to.  
  
“Right.”  His head drops down, expression half amused, half… embarrassed?  No, not quite.  Regret?  “I do that.  After all, there’s not much point to anything once you’re dead.  It’s something you could learn, you know.”  
  
“I’ve survived this long.”  
  
“By luck.  By chance.”  
  
“By _skill_.”  Giving his shoulder a shove, she sits up straight so she can face him more squarely.  “By knowing what I can do, and what the others can do.  They’re called calculated risks.”  
  
He nods, giving her a quick grin.  “And how much of a risk do you calculate that this is?”  
  
Looking down at the floor, she finds her shoulders hunching protectively.  
  
“That’s right.”  His grin fades as he looks at her, glances over at Yuusuke, and then looks back at her again.  “Tsukasa fighting for real—fighting for all he’s worth, using every dirty trick that DaiShocker gave him because he was meant to destroy heroes—is something vicious, and dangerous, and something that it isn’t tactically wise to stand against.”  
  
“So you’re going to leave.”  Her voice breaks, just a little bit, on the last word.  
  
“I…”  He looks away from her.  Shrugging, he shakes his head.  “No.  Not yet.”  
  
“But eventually.”  Her voice doesn’t break again, instead rising in fierce challenge.  It’s not Kaitou’s fault, everything that’s happening.  It wasn’t Kaitou’s fault, what happened _before_ , during the Rider War, though he did things that made it worse rather than better.  
  
He shot Tsukasa, at point-blank range, drove him into the more powerful form that slaughtered all the Riders.  
  
He stayed with her, when Yuusuke disappeared, when Tsukasa was unreachable, living in the Hikari Photo Studio and filling the hole that the others had left.  
  
“I can’t promise you I’m going to stay.”  Kaitou stares straight at her, expression as serious as she’s ever seen it.  “Because if it comes down to staying with you and dying at Tsukasa’s hands or running away… I’ll probably run.  But I will come with you.”  
  
“Really?”  There are tears in her voice again, and she runs her hand over her eyes fiercely.  She won’t cry.  She can’t _afford_ to cry right now.  
  
“Really.”  Reaching out, he gently takes her hand, offering her another smile.  “I didn’t during—… _before_.  I wasn’t going to die for Tsukasa.  I wasn’t going to be one of his casualties.  I wasn’t going to be his damn _conscience_.  That’s Yuusuke’s job, and he can keep it.”  
  
“So why…”  
  
“Because it didn’t work before.”  Staring down at their linked hands, Kaitou clenches his fingers tight.  “Because keeping myself out of the fighting kept me from dying… but I still watched Tsukasa kill Yuusuke.  I still watched Tsukasa die.  I still had to live with the whole damn war, even if I wasn’t involved.”  
  
“And if you’re going to be hurt by something… you might as well at least have a say in how it turns out.”  It’s easy to pull him into a hug using their linked hands.  Holding him close to her, she wraps her fingers in his hair.  “I wouldn’t ask you to die with us, anyway.  I don’t want _any_ of us to die—that’s kind of the whole point.  So I wouldn’t begrudge you leaving if things go badly.  And I’m really, really glad you’re going to come with me.”  
  
“Of course you are.”  He holds her with a fierceness equal to what she’s shown him.  “Who wouldn’t be happy to have me on their side?”  
  
Anyone who wanted guaranteed consistency from their teammates.  Anyone who had trouble with kleptomania.  Anyone who didn’t see a troubled past as a good excuse for an amoral present.  
  
Smiling at him, Natsumi shakes her head.  “I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t want you on their side.”  
  
“Damn right.”  Settling back against the wall, Kaitou picks up the card deck again.  Nodding toward Yuusuke, he purses his lips.  “Are we really bringing him with us?”  
  
“Of course.”  Frowning, she settles down next to Kaitou again, glancing over at Yuusuke.  “He’s got every right to come.”  
  
“I’m not debating that.  I’m just asking if we really _want_ him to.”  Shrugging, Kaitou starts dealing the cards into two piles.  “He looks like hell.”  
  
“He looks better.”  It’s true.  He isn’t nearly as pale as he had been, and the last of the bruising and scarring that had still been present earlier in the day has faded away.  
  
“He’s sleeping.  _Again._   Because he hasn’t done enough of that in the last few days.”  Kaitou frowns as he deals out the cards.  
  
“He’s healing, Kaitou.”  Laying a hand on his knee, she speaks quietly.  “It’s what he does.  But he’d never forgive us for trying to keep him out of this.”  
  
“He would.  He’s remarkably good at forgiving people for doing things.  I mean, the first thing he did after Tsukasa killed him was bring the guy back and give him a great big hug.”  Kaitou’s hands still, his gaze traveling back to Yuusuke.  “You saw what he looked like when the pirates brought him in.  If he didn’t have that special healing power of his, he’d have been dead a few times over.”  
  
“I know.”  Biting her lip, she looks over at Yuusuke, as well.  “But it doesn’t matter.  He would do what he does—try to defend people, try to _protect_ people—whether he had Kuuga or not, I think.  It’s just who he is.  Trying to take that away from him wouldn’t be right.”  
  
“It would only be fair.  It would be trying to protect him from himself.”  Handing one set of cards to her, Kaitou starts shuffling the ones in front of him again.  “I mean, there _is_ such a thing as being too good a person.”  
  
“You should tell him that when he’s awake.”  Smiling, she examines the alien pictures again.  They really are quite beautiful, and she finds herself tracing patterns that she doesn’t understand with her fingertip.  
  
Kaitou snorts, giving her a look that conveys very clearly that he thinks that’s a ridiculous idea.  “I’ll leave that to you and Tsukasa, I think.”  
  
Neither of them mentions that this assumes they get Tsukasa back.  There’s been enough talk of what’s about to happen.  
  
“He’s the real reason I can’t leave, you know.”  
  
“Yuusuke?”  Natsumi can feel her eyebrows trying to join with her hairline.  She doesn’t doubt that Kaitou cares for all of them, but he’s really not the type to openly admit it.  
  
“Yeah.”  Kaitou grins at her.  “He’s sleeping on my jacket.”  
  
“He’s sleeping on your jacket.”  Keeping a straight face is difficult, but if Kaitou can do it, she can too.  
  
“Uh huh.”  Nodding in mock distress, Kaitou shrugs.  “It’s my favorite jacket, and it’s got the best holster for DienDriver in it.  I can’t leave until he wakes up and gives it back.”  
  
She doesn’t mention that for Yuusuke to be sleeping on his jacket, Kaitou had to offer it as a pillow at some point in time.  “You could just wake him up.”  
  
“I could, but then he might flail around and drool on it.  That would be catastrophic.”  Grimacing in distaste, Kaitou fans out his half-deck of cards.  “Care to play a game while we wait for this shin-dig to start?”  
  
“With a card deck that we don’t know and rules that we haven’t set.”  Grabbing one of the cards from his hand, she turns it so she can see the pattern on it.  There might be one similar in her half-deck, but she’s not sure.  
  
“There’s really only one rule that matters.”  Taking one of the cards from her hand, Kaitou shuffles it into his hand.  “Whatever happens, we’re going to win.”  
  
Offering him a fierce grin, Natsumi nods.  “No matter what, we’re going to win.”  
  
She doesn’t know how long they play before Yuusuke wakes up and Luka comes over to teach them a real game.  It doesn’t matter, just like the points that Kaitou awards each of them for the different hands that they create doesn’t matter.  
  
They’re going to win, even if they have to cheat and make up the rules.  
  
There aren’t any other options that she’s willing to accept.  
  
***  
  
Marvelous makes sure to spend a little bit of time with each of his crewmen as they head toward the battle.  
  
Luka gets bored with him quickly, deciding instead to go see how entertaining the strangers from strange worlds can be.  He doesn’t mind, and will probably join their card game once he’s done.  
  
Ahim’s also doing fine.  She talks with the Senate that her people have appointed as their interim governing body, as she does most days.  They demand her presence; she respectfully declines, citing the work she’s doing and the importance of ensuring the Zangyack don’t have a chance to rise up again as very important reasons for her staying.  They condemn the epithet of _pirate_ , saying that it may have been necessary when the Zangyack were in command but sends the wrong message now; she simply insists that she’s a member of the Red Pirates, and that changing the name would erase the history of a great movement.  
  
He can’t help a little snort of laughter at that, and she looks up from the screen to offer him a kind smile and a brief roll of her eyes.  Pleading fatigue and the likelihood of coming battle, she signs off quickly.  
  
“They’re really insufferable.”  Leaning against the communications console, Marvelous smiles at the woman.  
  
“They can be.”  Shrugging, Ahim stands and offers him the chair.  “They were all of minor nobility prior to our planet’s loss.  I believe in many ways they are now… overcompensating for the loss and hardships we have faced.”  
  
“Being a Queen seems like way too much work.”  Ignoring the offer of the chair, he continues to lean on the console.  “I’m glad I just have to be a lowly pirate.”  
  
Ahim’s mouth turns down into a fierce scowl.  “That _is_ one obnoxious habit I am going to break them of quickly.  Their Queen has had quite a proud history as a pirate, and they will stop disparaging that very soon if they know what’s good for them.”  
  
“I’ve got no doubt they will.”  Putting his arm around her shoulder, he gives the woman a brief hug.  “Maybe by tomorrow night they’ll figure out that I’m usually around when they make these comments.”  
  
“I would not give them that much credit for intelligence.”  Giggling, Ahim returns his embrace with a quick one of her own.  “But I do appreciate your input when they come up with an actual problem.”  
  
“I know.”  Allowing his arm to fall away from her, he heads to the door.  “I think Luka’s trying to teach our visitors how to play cards.  They’re rather awful at it, though Kaitou cheats almost as well as Luka.  He just doesn’t know what he’s actually trying to accomplish by cheating.”  
  
“I think I’ll join them.”  Smiling still, Ahim looks at him enquiringly.  “Will you be joining us?”  
  
“Eventually.”  Giving her a little salute, Marvelous heads to the bridge.  
  
Joe stands with his back against the wheel, watching the stars in the view-screen.  He turns his head enough to see who’s walked in, and then turns back to the stars.  
  
“Anything?”  
  
Shaking his head, Joe continues his quiet surveillance.  “No.  It’ll be another hour or so before we’re in any danger of running into their scouting parties.  Probably more than that, because they don’t have the fleet capacity anymore to withstand dividing their forces too much.”  
  
“Good.”  Leaning back next to his first mate, Marvelous watches the stars for a moment in companionable silence.  “Want me to take over?”  
  
“No.”  Shaking his head again, Joe looks over at his captain.  “I know the Zangyack attack patterns best.  I want to be here.”  
  
“There’s a pretty vicious card game going on.  You might get to beat Luka just because she’s so frustrated with Kaitou Daiki right now.”  
  
“I appreciate the offer.  But I’d like to be here.”  
  
The way Joe says it makes it all right.  There isn’t fear or self-doubt or frustration in his voice.  There’s a little bit of grief, still, because he’s always going to miss his teacher and friend.  But there’s nothing that Marvelous needs to worry about.  
  
“I think I’ll go join them, then.  We’ll all be up here in an hour and make sure we’re ready.”  
  
“Sounds good.”  Eyes returning to the screen, Joe nods.  “I’ll see you all soon, then.”  
  
Marvelous collects Gai and Doc on his way to the game.  Doc’s tinkering with the Galleon Buster, trying to make sure that it’s as powerful as it could be.  There’s not really anything he can do with it but break it, though, and Marvelous doesn’t feel bad about dragging the mechanic away.  Gai he finds in the hallway, and the Earthling seems eager and happy to join in the game.  
  
It doesn’t last long, and he loses every hand they play, but Marvelous doesn’t care.  
  
He spent the time he needed to with his crew, and whatever happens in the coming battle, they’ll have this time to remember in the future.  
  
***  
  
“As I said, my esteemed colleague.”  Grinding his teeth together, Rerano protects his research with his body.  “This weapon is not meant to be used on our _esteemed_ leader.  It is meant for the gunman.  Tsukasa said—”  
  
“Tsukasa-sama.”  The fangire makes the correction with a brief flick of its head, sending its gold, green and blue mane flying.  “Our Great Leader, Tsukasa-sama.”  
  
“Our great leader Tsukasa-sama said that there is a man with armor similar to his, a gunman, who we will most likely have to defeat at some point in the future.”  His jaw is clenched so tight that it hurts, but Rerano manages to keep his tone pleasant.  “That is the only reason that I have designed the weapon around the specifications we have on Tsukasa’s arm—on Tsukasa-sama’s armor.”  
  
“I’m familiar with the gunman you speak of.”  The fangire nods, studying the read-outs on the computer.  “He can be quite the nuisance.  The weapon itself once belonged to the Great Leader’s organization, and was stolen out from under his nose by the thief who now wields it.  I’m quite sure he would be thrilled to have it retrieved.”  
  
“Wonderful.  Fantastic.”  His teeth snap together with every word, and Rerano has to be careful not to bite his tongue.  “May I continue with the work, then?”  
  
“In a moment.  I don’t find it quite… safe enough yet.”  Baring its teeth in an almost-smile, the fangire elbows his way to the computer.  “There are differences between Diend’s and Decade’s armor.  Allow me to make a few modifications to this, and you will have your weapon but without the risk that it may target the Great Leader by… accident.”  
  
Inclining his head as graciously as he can, Rerano allows the fangire to work, following all of the changes it makes with fierce attention.  
  
Anything that it does, he can undo later, if he needs to.  
  
Besides, he’s not _entirely_ certain that Tsukasa needs to die yet.  His creation may just be too perfect, the human thinking himself worthy of being a true Zangyack.  With time and discussion with Kansanin, he might come to better understand his place.  
  
And if he doesn’t, well… whenever the battle against Kaitou Daiki occurs, Rerano will have a good opportunity to show Tsukasa exactly what happens to those who attempt to betray the Empire.

 

***

  
They run into the first Zangyack ship fifteen minutes after they’re all gathered on the bridge.  
  
Marvelous doesn’t waste any time, locking weapons and destroying the smaller vessel within ten seconds.  His hands tighten around the wheel as fire flares and dies on the view-screen, the carefully constructed artificial atmosphere of the Zangyack ship consumed in the blast before the empty cold of space devours everything.  
  
Watching his captain, Joe waits patiently.  
  
“Well.  They probably know we’re here now.”  Marvelous grins, looking left and right, locking eyes with each of the crew in turn.  “Everyone ready?”  
  
A chorus of affirmation sounds, more boisterous from some—from Gai—than from others.  
  
“Do you want me to go out on my own?”  Gai practically jumps up and down, a ball of barely restrained energy.  
  
Turning to Joe, Marvelous raises his eyebrows in silent question.  
  
“I’d say no.”  Shaking his head, Joe nods toward the now-empty screen.  “When we get into the thick of things, it’ll be too easy to lose track of each other.  Better to have all of us together, make this a surgical strike, down and out as quick as possible.”  
  
“Just what I was thinking.”  Grinning fiercely, Marvelous gives the Galleon’s wheel a brisk turn, correcting their course.  “Keep everyone together until we’re planet-side, then we’ll split.  So just try to wait patiently, Gai, though I’m sure that’ll be hard for you.  You too, Riders.”  
  
“Because I had other plans while we’re in the middle of space.”  Kaitou’s voice drawls over the words, but the hand he has on his gun is tense.  “I was just going to grab my personal spaceship and head out against the vast armada on my own, because it sounds like fun.”  
  
“Kaitou, shut up.”  
  
Natsumi and Luka speak at the same time, sharing a brief grin with each other.  
  
Another handful of ships appear on the screen, and Marvelous straightens, readying his Ranger Key.  
  
It’s all the instruction any of them need, and within seconds their armor envelops each of them.  
  
“That was so _cool_!”  Yuusuke’s voice comes from behind him, but Joe doesn’t turn to see the man.  He doesn’t need to.  He’s heard that tone of excitement in Gai’s voice often enough to guess what the stranger looks like.  
  
“Ah.”  Marvelous’ grin is obvious in his voice.  “It is cool.  Now, aliens stay at the back, out of the way.  Pirates…”  
  
They all know what’s coming, and everyone straightens as Marvelous guides the _Galleon_ directly at the enemy.  
  
“Let’s make this showy!”  
  
***  
  
Natsumi stands with Kaitou and Yuusuke, trying to stay out of the way as the pirates pilot their vessel through a seething melee of bizarre-looking ships.  All of the pirates are in brightly-colored, thin armor, their hands steady on the wheels that are controlling the ship.  
  
She’s glad they’re driving, because she can’t quite figure out how the controls work or how the images coming through the view-screen—sometimes at strange angles—are supposed to correlate with the outside world.  
  
She’ll feel much better when she has ground beneath her feet again.  At least she can _see_ ground again now, sometimes, an actual world outside the ship instead of just wildly rolling star fields.  
  
“There!”  Marvelous points to a space between two buildings, and the rest of the Gokaigers nod in understanding.  
  
Natsumi really wishes she understood, too.  
  
A few seconds later the ship comes to rest on the ground.  Nothing explodes around them, and Natsumi realizes belatedly that all of the ships they had been fighting seem to have been destroyed or left in orbit.  
  
“Ready?”  Marvelous holds out his hand to her, and she imagines him grinning behind his mask.  
  
“Ready.”  Nodding, she steps forward and takes his hand.  
  
Luka takes Kaitou’s hand and Ahim takes Yuusuke’s.  Marvelous pulls her tight against his body, and then they’re off.  
  
There’s probably teleportation involved.  She hopes there’s teleportation involved, because otherwise she’s not sure exactly what happened.  They’re down on the ground, and Marvelous lets her go slowly, making sure she has her feet under her.  
  
“You remember where he was?”  Marvelous already has his sword in one hand and his gun in the other, carefully aiming at approaching monsters and sniping them one by one as they charge.  
  
Shaking her head, Natsumi takes a step behind him.  
  
“That way.”  He gestures with his sword, stepping around a moment later to bring the weapon across the throat of one of the grey monsters.  “A block or so away.  You guys go as quickly as you can, and we’ll catch up to you.”  
  
It’s the plan they talked about, before things went crazy, and she nods.  Calling Kivala to her hand, she takes a deep breath.  
  
“ _Henshin!_ ”  
  
Yuusuke and Daiki speak in unison with her, Yuusuke from her right, Daiki from her left and slightly behind her.  Turning to them as soon as her armor’s formed around her, she points.  
  
There’s no more need for talk, and they sprint through the battlefield, dodging or killing enemies where they stand, heading as quickly as they can toward Tsukasa.  
  
He stands at the center of the storm, Fangire, Orphenochs, and Zangyack all reporting to him.  He fights, as well, striking out with Decade when needed, never hesitating as he kills the defenders of the planet.  
  
It’s wrong.  It hurts, on so many levels, because this isn’t what Tsukasa’s like anymore.  
  
“ _Tsukasa!_ ”  She screams his name, though he’s probably too far away to hear.  She’s going to have to fight her way through an astronomical number of foes, if she wants to reach him.  
  
Except he turns toward her.  Maybe it’s just the disruption the three of them have caused.  Maybe it’s Diend’s attacks, throwing blue fire into the air, that have really caught his attention.  
  
It still causes her heart to leap, hope suddenly blazing bright through her entire body.  
  
Yuusuke charges in front of her, clearing a path through the hordes of monsters.  Kaitou stays at her side, using Diend to pick off anyone that Yuusuke misses or anyone Yuusuke can’t get to in time.  
  
She runs.  It’s not fair, maybe.  She should tell Yuusuke not to push himself so hard, try to make the fighting more even, but what they’re doing is working.  What they’re doing is getting them closer to Tsukasa.  
  
Tsukasa turns toward them, though, points with one regal hand, and the crush of enemies suddenly triples.  
  
Yuusuke’s armor darkens as she watches, takes on the velvety black hue that means he’s dancing the knife edge of sacrificing his sanity to gain more power.  It works, though, Kuuga’s fire driving a wedge through the mass of alien creatures and familiar monsters in front of her.  
  
She doesn’t remember running through the hole in the Zangyack defenses.  All she knows is that she is suddenly standing here, breath heaving in her lungs, sword clenched tight in her right hand, and Decade is in front of her.  
  
The eyes are wrong.  It’s easy to notice, standing here staring at him.  They drip down, seem to ooze like tears between the bars of his helmet.  She had hoped she’d never have to see this form again.  
  
“Tsukasa.”  Her voice doesn’t shake as she says his name, though her left hand does as she reaches out to him.  “Do you know who I am?”  
  
“Of course I do, Natsumikan.”  The armor breaks apart, leaving Tsukasa standing there in his not-quite-DaiShocker leathers.  He smiles as he reaches out with his left hand, fingers moving to twine with hers.  
  
It isn’t his smile, though.  It isn’t the way Tsukasa smiles at her, lacking any of the warmth or caring that he usually graces her with.  
  
Pulling back from him feels like it rips a hole right through her heart, but she does it anyway.  She’s killed him, before, to keep him from becoming something monstrous.  The least she can do now is ensure that he’s actually _himself_ before making herself vulnerable.  
  
“Stop this.”  There is a clear area around them, the monsters that he commands apparently trusting their leader to protect himself.  It gives her room to swing her arm out, indicating the battle around them.  “You’re _killing people_ , Tsukasa.”  
  
“I know.”  His smile is gone, replaced by an expression too cold to even be calculating.  “It would be quite impossible to plan something like this _without_ realizing that people would die.”  
  
“You don’t have to do this, Tsukasa.  You really don’t!”  She keeps her sword up, though her left hand is again reaching for him.  “Whatever the Zangyack did to you, we can help.  We can fix things.  You’re Kadoya Tsukasa.  You’re not a destroyer.  You’re not a warlord.  You’re not—”  
  
There’s an explosion behind them, drowning out all but the first notes of a very human, very familiar scream.  The shockwave sends her stumbling forward, into Tsukasa.  
  
He grabs her, keeping her from falling, and then shoves her behind him.  “That’s enough!  I told you to take him alive.  There’s more power locked in his body than any of you could ever dream of.”  
  
“Yuusuke…”  Her voice is a faint whisper as she watches a dozen of the red monsters swarm around Yuusuke’s body, wrapping his bleeding, unconscious frame in thick bonds.  Kaitou’s nowhere to be seen, and neither is Diend’s weapon’s fire.  
  
All right, then.  He told her he’d run if things seemed to be going badly.  That means it’s up to her now.  
  
Tsukasa knew what she would do.  His armor forms around him even as she attacks, and her sword slams against the back of Decade, throwing off sparks and jarring her arm.  She hadn’t been prepared for this, and the blade can’t find a weakness, no place to slip between the chinks and strike living flesh.  Before she can strike again he turns, RideBooker assembled as a gun and pointed at her head.  
  
“Natsumi…”  His voice is still quiet, a final warning.  “That’s enough.  I will—”  
  
“Shoot?”  It’s all the warning Daiki gives before Diend fires, breaking the invisibility that he had cloaked himself in.  
  
Tsukasa was ready for that, as well.  The first part of the volley strikes home, but before permanent damage can be done RideBooker flips into its sword form, dashing the remaining shots from the air before they can strike.  
  
It would have worked, maybe, if Daiki had shot to kill.  If Daiki used an all-out attack from the beginning, Tsukasa might not have been able to react in time, prepared or not.  Instead he shot to wound, and now they face each other as enemies.  
  
It’s wrong.  It’s not what she had wanted, has too many echoes of the Rider War in it, and she can’t keep herself from jumping between them.  
  
It stops both of them cold, and she faces Tsukasa again, sword still held tight.  
  
“Tsukasa.”  Her voice does break now, has hints of tears and terror in it, but her sword is steady.  “Please.  For all we’ve been, all we’ve seen, please listen to me.  Please stop this.”  
  
“I _am_ stopping things, Natsumi.”  
  
She wishes she could see his eyes, could try to put some emotion with the softly spoken words.  
  
His hand sweeps out, indicating the battlefield.  “This world will remember its proper place as part of the Empire soon, and then this will be over.”  
  
“No.”  Shaking her head, she takes a step toward him, sword still held tight in front of her.  “You don’t want to control an empire!  You don’t want that responsibility, Tsukasa.  You don’t want to have to constantly crush rebellions.  You _help_ rebels now.  Please remember.”  
  
“I…”  He hesitates, then shakes his head.  “I can’t.  I know I’m missing things.  I know some of them are important.  But believe me, Natsumi.  This is something that needs to happen.  Trust me.”  
  
She wants to.  It’s impossible, though, with everything that’s happened.  
  
Kaitou screams behind her, a sound of agony that becomes a string of curses.  
  
Spinning, she sees him out of armor, right hand clutched tight to his chest.  Blood is spreading in a dark red lake across his chest, though she realizes after a moment of horrified terror that it’s from his hand.  
  
His eyes scan for DienDriver, spot it a half-dozen feet away, and he runs for it.  
  
The kaijin looks like some kind of monstrous, toothed bird.  Red and blue feathers coat its body, but its beak hangs open as it breathes, revealing a double-row of serrated, vicious teeth.  It picks up DienDriver a moment before Daiki can, pointing the barrel at him.  
  
She moves without thinking, and her sword buries itself in the monster’s gut between one thought and the next.  
  
It takes her almost a full second to realize that the second sword sticking out of the monster belongs to Decade, and she turns to look at Tsukasa as she pulls her blade free.  
  
DienDriver falls from the kaijin’s hand, and it stumbles back, both hands moving to hold Decade’s blade.  “Tsukasa… you… can’t…”  
  
“I told you to disarm him.  I didn’t tell you to kill him.”  Decade faces the kaijin squarely, arms crossing in front of his chest.  “Disobeying orders in the Zangyack Empire is punished by death.”  
  
“I…”  The bird-man collapses, bright purple fluid that must be blood oozing from his gut, his chest, bubbling around his teeth with every breath.  “You… mistake…”  
  
It’s the last word he says.  If it bothers Tsukasa, it doesn’t show as Decade stalks forward and pulls his sword free from the monster’s chest.  
  
Kaitou’s sitting on the ground a meter in front of the creature, head bowed, hand still clutched to his chest.  Leaning down by Kaitou, Natsumi places her hand gently on his shoulder.  
  
He raises his head to look at her, but all of his actions are jerky, uncoordinated.  She can’t get a good look at his hand, because he’s guarding it too closely to his chest, but there’s metal glinting out of far too many shades of red.  
  
“Natsumi.”  Tsukasa draws her attention back to him as he quietly says her name.  “I don’t want to hurt you.”  
  
“Then don’t.”  Standing, she raises her sword once more.  “We’re trying to _help_ you!  If you don’t want to hurt us, then just _don’t_.”  
  
The monsters surrounding their small tableau are watching them, some quizzically, some with more than a hint of bloodlust to their expressions.  She doesn’t know where Yuusuke’s been taken.  There’s a flash of bright color to the north, though, and things suddenly don’t seem quite so hopeless as the Gokaigers appear on the scene.  
  
Tsukasa looks between her and the Gokaigers, assessing the situation.  Then he nods, hand running over the blade of Decade’s sword, cleaning it in preparation for this new battle.  “Don’t let any of them hurt him.”  
  
They aren’t the words she was expecting.  She doesn’t know what to make of them, and she takes a step after Tsukasa before looking back at Daiki.  
  
He’s not conscious anymore.  His body tilts slowly to the side, and she catches him before he can fall completely, laying him gently on the ground.  His arm from just below his elbow down is a mess of tiny metallic splinters and clotting blood.  Ripping the arm of his sleeve free, she ties a quick tourniquet above his elbow.  It can’t stay for long, because Daiki’d never forgive her if he lost his hand, but there’s too much blood for her to just leave it alone and not enough time for her to bandage it properly.  
  
The Zangyack press in around them, now that their leader has gone.  Not so the Orphenoch or the Fangire, and she wonders about that as she picks up her sword again, taking up a position over Daiki’s prone body.  
  
She doesn’t know what Tsukasa’s planning.  She probably shouldn’t trust it.  She probably should leave Daiki and do whatever it takes to bury her sword in Tsukasa’s back, before he kills the pirates who saved them.  
  
But he hasn’t hurt her.  
  
He killed the monster that hurt Daiki.  
  
He stopped the monsters from hurting Yuusuke any more.  
  
He asked her to trust him.  
  
There’s something wrong with him.  There’s something broken and off in his mind, for him to be doing things like… like _this_.  
  
But she can still see pieces of her Tsukasa, buried inside the monster that the Zangyack created.  
  
It probably makes her a bad person, but she can’t kill him until she’s certain that there’s nothing she can do to save him.  
  
She’ll protect the Gokaigers if she can, if she’s able, but for now she’ll give Tsukasa the benefit of the doubt.  
  
***  
  
They have one shot, as Tsukasa crosses the distance between them.  
  
The Galleon Buster comes at his mental command, and the others insert their keys without prompting.  Only Joe hesitates, blue key held tight in a clenched fist as he watches Tsukasa.  
  
It will probably kill the man.  Even given what they’ve seen of Decade’s armor, Doc is almost certain that a point-blank shot will be fatal to any Earthling.  
  
Given all that he’s done, Tsukasa probably deserves to die.  Two of his team-mates are already down, only Natsumi still standing determinedly in the unending tides of Zangyack.  
  
Tsukasa didn’t kill them, though.  He used proxies, even going so far as to kill the monster who struck down Kaitou for doing… what?  For going too far?  For not going far enough?  
  
“Joe.”  Marvelous’ voice carries easily over the din of battle, and Joe starts visibly.  “Now or never.”  
  
“He hasn’t hurt her.”  Joe’s hand pulls back slowly, moving the key further from the slot.  “Natsumi.  He hasn’t hurt her at all.”  
  
“You’re sure?”  Watching the man in the pink armor make his slow, steady approach, Marvelous places a hand on Joe’s shoulder.  
  
“I’m sure.”  Stepping away from the Galleon Buster, Joe closes his hand on the key, willing it back to the treasure chest that supplies them with their arsenal of power.  “I can’t do it, Marvelous.  I can’t kill him while they still have hope.”  
  
“Ah.”  Pulling his own key free, Marvelous nods.  “Everybody get ready for one hell of a fight, then.  If this is going to be our last stand, we’d better make it quite a show.”  
  
***  
  
It’s a brutal battle.  
  
She doesn’t get to see all of it, because she’s fighting on her own, but she sees the results.  She hears the buildings fall.  She sees the piles of Zangyack dead that collect around the pirates.  
  
She wants to say Tsukasa kills almost as many of the Zangyack as the Gokaigers do, his attacks not discriminating between allies that get in his way and the pirates that he’s aiming for, but that might just be wishful thinking.  
  
Tsukasa wins in the end, though.  It’s inevitable.  He has an army at his command, and all the powers of every Rider he’s ever met.  He counters the pirates’ moves as soon as they try them, using Kabuto’s Clock Up when they use some trick to gain super-speed, using DragRedder to scatter their group attacks, using Takeru’s fire powers to counter the fire attacks that the Gokaigers use.  
  
It causes the pirates to pause, when he uses Takeru’s weapon, confusion evident as they look at one another.  She doesn’t think Tsukasa planned it, because she has no idea _what_ about the attack caused distress, but he still uses the slight break in their guard to his advantage.  
  
Doc falls first.  
  
Marvelous falls last, standing defiant in front of his crew, protecting them until he can’t move anymore.  
  
When Marvelous finally collapses, Tsukasa allows his armor to fall.  He looks back at her, and the sea of Zangyack fighters—a slightly reduced sea, finally, all the dead having taken its toll—parts between them.  
  
“What should I do with them?”  There’s honest puzzlement in his expression, and he strides toward her slowly.  “These… pirates.  What should I do with these enemies of the Zangyack Empire?”  
  
Let them go.  Let all of them go, and pretend this is all a nightmare, but she can’t say that.  “Don’t kill them.  Take them prisoner.  There’s a lot…”  
  
He stares at her, eyes so cold, and she wonders if she just imagined that flicker of caring and confusion as he walked toward her.  
  
“You could learn from them.”  She swallows, standing over Kaitou still.  He’s still bleeding sluggishly despite her tourniquet.  “You could learn a lot from them, Tsukasa.  Just… keep them together and treat their wounds.”  
  
“Take them prisoner.”  He smiles, reaching up as though to touch her cheek, though he’s still far enough away that she couldn’t reach him with her sword even if she wanted to.  “That’s a fitting enough answer.  Enemies of the Empire can be killed at any time, but the dead can never be resurrected.  And if I take these… acquaintances of yours prisoner instead of killing them, what will you give me?”  
  
“I…”  She swallows hard, looking between her bloodied sword, Kaitou’s prone body, the enemies all around her, and Tsukasa’s face.  What is he asking of her?  Is he toying with her, teasing her with hope and the chance of fixing things?  Or is he really asking her to help him, to give him an option out of this other than killing them all?  “I surrender, if you promise medical care to all of your prisoners.”  Her eyes flick to Kaitou’s hand again.  “Medical care _very soon_.”  
  
“That’s the only terms of your surrender?”  He seems amused by the proposition, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he faces her.  “Treat my prisoners so they don’t die?”  
  
“So they don’t end up permanently injured.  And keep them together.”  It’s a foolish thing, maybe, but she knows how desperately worried she would be to wake up separated from Kaitou and Yuusuke after a fight.  
  
To wake up separated from Tsukasa after a fight, and it hurts so much to see him there smiling as he asks what she wants in return for her surrender.  
  
She wants him.  She wants her Tsukasa back, but she’s going to have to be smart about it.  That would be easier if her mind didn’t feel like it was going too fast and too slow all at the same time.  “Keep me, Kaitou and Yuusuke together, and keep the pirates together.”  
  
“At all times?  All six of them?”  He glances back, to where the same red-colored monsters that had tied Yuusuke up are working on securing the pirates.  “That seems like a dangerous thing to acquiesce to.”  
  
“Don’t ever have fewer than two of them together, then.  Preferably three together, and keep them all in the same cell.  A cell big enough for six people.  After they get proper medical attention.  And promise you won’t torture any of us.”  Her voice doesn’t quaver as she makes the demands.  “Do that, and I come with you willingly.”  
  
“Agreed.”  Holding out his left hand to her, he inclines his head.  “As you ask, so shall it be.”  
  
It’s dangerous, trusting him.  He could turn on her—turn on the others—at any moment.  
  
But she can’t win by fighting him.  She’s tried, and all it’s gotten her is hurt friends.  
  
Willing her own armor away, she reaches out and grasps Tsukasa’s hand with her own.  
  
She only hopes she hasn’t just killed all of them for a foolish dream.

 


	4. White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans are made and alliances are reconsidered.

_Part Four: White_  
  
Yuusuke wakes up screaming.  
  
Natsumi was expecting it, in a way.  After everything they’ve been through, before and now, how could he _not_ wake up screaming?  
  
She holds him, her arms around his shoulders, and his hands still and gentle as they touch her.  The frantic flickering of his armor, a black boot, a gloved hand, supple darkness cloaking his stomach where the amadam lies, slows and finally stops.  
  
“Natsumi?”  His voice is rough, his eyes wide and confused.  
  
“Yeah.”  Her right hand brushes his hair away from his eyes; her left arm stays around his shoulders, holding him close to her.  “We’re all here.  We’re all right.”  
  
“I feel awful.”  Yuusuke’s arms hug his chest, his right hand settling over Kuuga’s amadam.  His face is pale, and his eyes close and then are forced open again.  
  
It’s not an admission Yuusuke would usually make, and Natsumi holds him closer, her hand going to his forehead.  He’s warm, but that’s not unusual for him.  Kuuga is a creature of fire, and that sometimes bleeds through into Yuusuke’s human form.  
  
“I’m not surprised you feel awful.”  Kaitou’s tone is almost mocking.  “You only got eviscerated at least twice in the last week.  Plus who knows whatever fun things the Zangyack did to you while they were _fixing_ you.”  
  
“They didn’t do anything.”  Scowling at the thief, Natsumi tries and fails to catch his eye.  “To Yuusuke or to you.  You’re going to be all right, Kaitou.”  
  
“They shot my hand—my _good_ hand, my shooting hand—full of little metal slivers that had poison on them.”  Kaitou holds his bandaged hand close to his chest, as he has for the last several hours.  “Forgive me if I’m not just going to take Evil Overlord Tsukasa’s word that I’m going to be fine.”  
  
“Kaitou…”  Yuusuke scrambles to his feet, pulling away from her.  He makes it half the distance from the bed he had been lying in to the chair where Kaitou is lounging before his left leg collapses, sending him down to the ground.  He tries to stand and instead ends up doubled up, dry heaving, one hand still pressed to the amadam.  
  
This isn’t good.  She has been in a state of half-formed fear since she took Tsukasa’s hand.  There has been no fighting.  Tsukasa locked her in the room with food and water, and Kaitou and Yuusuke had been brought to her soon after.  Things had been in a bizarre sort of holding pattern of terror, with nothing for the emotion to latch onto.  
  
It has something now.  Is Kaitou right?  Did the Zangyack do something to Yuusuke?  Did Tsukasa let…?  
  
The tears that have been strangely absent are pricking at her eyes again as she leans down by Yuusuke’s side, offering him a glass of water and a napkin to wipe his mouth.  “Just take it easy, Yuusuke.  Give yourself a break.  Let yourself heal.”  
  
“Can’t.”  He leans back into her, eyes closed again, and maybe he is warmer than usual.  “Can’t let Tsukasa kill people.  Have to stop him.  No one else can.  My job.  My responsibility.  Have to—”  
  
“No.”  Kaitou grabs Yuusuke’s chin forcefully with his good hand, kneeling in front of the smaller man.  “This isn’t the Rider War, Yuusuke.  Look at me.  It isn’t.  That’s over.  That’s done with.  We’re in another world now.  Remember?  Aliens?  Crazy space pirates?”  
  
“I…”  Yuusuke shudders, relaxing slightly, and nods.  “Yeah.  I remember.”  
  
“And Tsukasa isn’t your responsibility.  Just because you want to play the role of his conscience doesn’t make you responsible when he fucks things up.  Like trying to kill us and every other sentient or sapient or whatever the hell the word is in the multiverse.  Got that?”  
  
Yuusuke is still for several long seconds, eyes wide and locked on Kaitou.  Then he blinks and smiles, gently twisting his head free of Kaitou’s hand before grabbing the thief’s fingers with his own.  “I get it, Kaitou.  And thanks, for helping me… sort things out.  But that isn’t why I have to stop him.  I have to stop him because it’s not fair.  He shouldn’t have to live with anything that _they_ make him do.  He shouldn’t have to feel guilty for things that he wouldn’t have done if they didn’t invade his mind.”  
  
Kaitou stares at Yuusuke, expression oscillating between frustration and amusement before settling on amusement.  Shaking his head, the thief lets out a long-suffering sigh.  “Damn all the gods in every forsaken universe, you are the _happiest_ man I know for the number of _issues_ that you have.  None of the things that happened during all your various possessions were your fault, and I suppose it isn’t Tsukasa’s fault the things he does during this.  And I really doubt one planet more or less is going to matter to him all that much.”  
  
“It matters to me.  And it’ll matter to him.”  Yuusuke tries to stand and falls, ending up panting in Natsumi’s arms, both hands pressed against the amadam.  
  
“Has anything like this happened before?”  Kaitou has his good hand buried in Yuusuke’s hair, and if Natsumi didn’t know better she’d say he was terrified.  
  
“No.”  Shaking her head, Natsumi rubs Yuusuke’s back.  “But he’s never been hurt this badly in such rapid succession before.”  
  
“I’ll be all right.”  Yuusuke goes to stand again, and they both hold him down.  “Guys.  Really.”  
  
“Really _no_.”  Kaitou smacks Yuusuke’s head, softly.  “Really, if you keep doing this, I’m going to call Mr. Evil Overlord and tell him if he doesn’t want his best friend to die he better get his hands on a damn good doctor.”  
  
“Kaitou’s right, Yuusuke.”  Tightening her hold on him, Natsumi meets Yuusuke’s sulky, pained grimace with a scared smile of her own.  “You’re kind of frightening me right now.  We didn’t manage to beat Tsukasa at full strength; trying to take him on when you literally can’t stand up is a bad idea.”  
  
“I have to.”  Yuusuke shivers as he burrows in closer to her.  “We have to.”  
  
She doesn’t hear the door open.  There is just suddenly Tsukasa’s voice, Tsukasa’s hand in her field of vision, reaching over her shoulder to stroke Yuusuke’s hair.  “You just have to rest.”  
  
Yuusuke is on his feet between one breath and the next.  Kuuga’s armor solidifies around him, velvety black with the faintest of gold trim.  Only the eyes have true color, a shifting red that threatens to deepen to black.  
  
He throws one punch.  Tsukasa dodges and grabs his arm, stepping up against Yuusuke’s body, and catches him as the smaller man collapses.  
  
Kuuga’s armor wavers frantically again, there and gone and there and gone, and blood drips down Yuusuke’s face from his nose, his eyes, his ears.  
  
Tsukasa doesn’t fight them as she and Kaitou wrench Yuusuke away from him, settling him down gently as he chokes, spitting blood onto the floor.  Tsukasa just watches, expression blank.  
  
“What did you do to him?”  Kaitou’s voice is low, threatening, and he stands between Yuusuke and Tsukasa.  “He’s your _friend_ , Tsukasa.”  
  
“Do you know how intricate the neural connections for Kuuga are, Yuusuke?”  Tsukasa speaks softly, watching as Yuusuke spits another mouthful of blood onto the floor.  
  
Yuusuke’s only response is a panting whimper as he curls into a ball, protecting the amadam.  
  
“They’re very intricate.”  Tsukasa tilts his head to one side.  “Even more impressive than I knew about, because the Zangyack have better technology than DaiShocker did in some ways.  They saw the way you were healing.  They were fascinated by it.”  
  
“No.”  Her stomach is tying itself in knots as Natsumi places herself between Tsukasa and Yuusuke.  “You didn’t—”  
  
“I didn’t tell them to.  They just thought you were too dangerous as you were, and were curious what would happen if they…”  Tsukasa’s right hand clenches tight and then relaxes.  “But you’ll heal.  You just have to rest and give yourself time, Yuusuke, or you’re going to tear yourself apart.”  
  
“Tsukasa.”  Yuusuke forces himself to his knees, trying and failing to wipe the blood off his face.  “Please.  Remember who you are.”  
  
“I do, Yuusuke.”  The look on Tsukasa’s face as he looks down on them is so distant and sad that it’s all Natsumi can do not to run to his side.  “I remember who I am.  I’m the Destroyer of Worlds.  I was DaiShocker’s Great Leader.  I’m an Action Commander in the Zangyack Empire.  And the three of you are mine.”  
  
Kaitou laughs, the sound rich and utterly amused.  “You’re trying to claim me now?  After all the times I’ve tried to get you to even notice me, you only decide to claim me after the creepy aliens screw with your mind?”  
  
“I could give you to the Zangyack, if you prefer.”  Tsukasa’s smile has a sharp edge to it as he studies Kaitou.  
  
“No.”  Eyes dropping to the floor, Kaitou’s good hand clenches on Yuusuke’s shoulder.  “That’s all right.”  
  
“I didn’t tell them to hurt you, Yuusuke.”  Kneeling down in front of them, Tsukasa reaches out towards Yuusuke again.  
  
Kaitou moves to stop him, but Natsumi reaches over to hold his good hand.  
  
Yuusuke doesn’t flinch as Tsukasa’s hand falls on his head, trails down his bloody cheek to lift his chin.  A faint smile touches the edges of Tsukasa’s mouth, and Natsumi is struck again by something like sorrow in his eyes.  
  
“I punished the ones who hurt you.”  Tsukasa says the words tentatively, watching Yuusuke’s reaction.  When Yuusuke doesn’t flinch, he continues.  “You’re mine.  My orders were to examine you and treat your injuries, not experiment on you in potentially lethal ways.”  
  
“And anyone who isn’t yours?”  Yuusuke asks the question quietly, meeting Tsukasa’s eyes evenly.  “Anyone who’s different and that you don’t care about?”  
  
“I’m taking care of you three.”  Standing, Tsukasa shakes his hand as though that will clean it of the red streaks of blood.  “What more do you want from me?”  
  
“I want my friend back.”  Yuusuke forces himself into a sitting position, though it’s clear from the way his face pales and his features draw in that it hurts him.  “I want my Tsukasa back.  You understood, before they did whatever they did to you.  You didn’t always agree with me, but you understood what I believed.”  
  
“You said they took something from you, Tsukasa.”  Standing slowly, Natsumi reaches out to him.  “What was it?  How can we fix it?”  
  
Taking her hand, he smiles, though his head gives the faintest of shakes.  “I am what I’m meant to be, Natsumi.  As long as I have the three of you, I’ll be all right.”  
  
What’s he trying to tell her?  What’s the hesitancy she sees on his face, the unwillingness to talk freely?  Are they being watched?  
  
“Stay alive.”  He squeezes her hand as he says it.  “All three of you, stay alive.  I’ll see to it that you have places of honor in the Empire.  Understand?”  
  
Yuusuke starts to protest, but Kaitou places a hand around his shoulders, drawing his attention before shaking his head.  
  
Squeezing Tsukasa’s hand in return, Natsumi nods.  “We understand, I think.  We at least get the gist of it.”  
  
He smiles at her, and it’s almost right.  If not for that sheen of sadness that still lurks under all his expressions, it would be right.  “Good.  Take care of Yuusuke.  Don’t let him hurt himself.  I’ll be back in a few hours with clothes for all of you.”  
  
“Why?”  Kaitou asks the question, still kneeling with Yuusuke.  
  
“Because I’m going to present you to Empress Kansanin.  You’re going to be part of my command force.”  Tsukasa says it as though it’s the most natural thing in the world.  
  
Yuusuke protests, lurching to his feet.  “No!  We won’t—”  
  
Tsukasa’s fingers tighten around hers, his eyes pleading with her to do something.  To ask Yuusuke to betray his ethics, his conscience, his very being in the hopes that their Tsukasa is still the one pulling the strings.  
  
To keep Yuusuke from hurting himself, to protect them all from retaliation by the Zangyack, and she desperately hopes that she’s right about the way she’s reading him.  
  
“We’ll do it.”  Her voice cuts across Yuusuke’s protests, and he trails off.  “For you, Tsukasa, we’ll do it.”  
  
“Good.”  He gives her that same smile, almost but not quite his, and turns to leave.  
  
“No!  You can’t.  Tsukasa, please—”  Trying to chase after Tsukasa, Yuusuke chokes on another mouthful of blood and goes to his knees again, coughing.  Kaitou keeps him from rising afterward, the thief practically pinning the smaller man to the floor with his body.  
  
Yuusuke’s screams follow Tsukasa out the door.  They’re awful sounds, the voice of mixed agony and betrayal.  Kaitou keeps him pinned to the ground, though, and once she joins him Yuusuke doesn’t stand a chance.  
  
Yuusuke won’t hurt them, no matter how desperate he is to get to Tsukasa and end this.  
  
She’s betting all their souls that Tsukasa won’t willingly hurt any of them, either.  
  
***  
  
“Explain it to me.”  
  
The three pirates scramble to their feet as the strange man strides into the room.  Gai recovers first, stepping forward to meet the leather-clad man as the door slides shut behind him.  “Explain what to you?”  
  
“Why he acts the way he does.”  Tsukasa crosses his arms over his chest, his bright eyes focused on Gai.  “Explain why he’ll hurt himself, risk killing himself, for people he doesn’t know.  People he’ll never meet.  People who don’t matter.”  
  
“Who are you talking about?”  Doc stays behind Gai’s left elbow, terror evident in his voice as he faces down the Zangyack commander.  “Marvelous?  Joe?”  
  
“Yuusuke.”  Tilting his head, Tsukasa looks at Don as though he’s said something ridiculous.  “Yuusuke’s mine.  Whatever madness infects your crew doesn’t matter to me.  Unless it’s the same as what Yuusuke has?”  
  
“Oh dear…”  Ahim speaks tentatively, standing at Gai’s left hand.  “I’m afraid we’re talking at cross-purposes.  Could you explain what it is that you wish to know more clearly, Tsukasa-san?”  
  
“Tsukasa-sama.”  Turning so he’s sideways to them, Tsukasa paces the confines of the room.  “Natsumi said that I could learn from you.  She left it vague, and it’s true enough that the Zangyack can learn interesting things from your technology and your corpses, but I think she meant something like this.  That I could remember why they are the way they are.  So explain it.”  
  
“I still don’t—”  Shaking her head, Ahim frowns in doubt.  What does she tell this man?  Is this a trick of his?  Or is he really asking for information so basic that most children understood it?  
  
“He’s a hero.”  Gai’s voice seems to echo in their small prison.  “Yuusuke.  He’s the ultimate archetype of a hero, a kind that you don’t see around as much anymore.  He’s the kind of guy who just knows what the right thing to do is and does it, come hell or high water.  At least, I think that’s what he is, but I haven’t spent as much time with him as you have.”  
  
“I trust what he says, because I don’t understand people on my own…”  Tsukasa’s fingers dance across his forehead, press hard on his temples.  “I think… I said that once…”  
  
Silence reigns, during which the three pirates share a brief glance.  This was not what they were expecting when they debated what the Zangyack would have planned for them.  
  
“He’s mine.”  Tsukasa practically hisses the words as he raises his head, eyes fixed on Gai.  “They’re all mine.  I won’t lose them.  Not again.  So they have to join me.  If they don’t join me, they’ll die.  I don’t want to watch him die again.  I _won’t_.”  
  
“Then… don’t do whatever it is that’s going to make him die?”  The tentative suggestion comes from Doc, looking more confused than ever.  
  
“I don’t have a _choice_.”  Tsukasa moves with nigh-impossible speed and grace, his fingers burying themselves in Gai’s shirt and lifting the man up.  “I’m a member of the Zangyack Empire.  I’m the Great Leader.  I _have_ to be.  Why is that so hard for everyone to understand?”  
  
Ahim’s hand falls lightly on Tsukasa’s elbow.  Resisting the urge to apply pressure, to forcibly rip his arms away from Gai, she instead offers him a tentative smile.  “We understand that is what you think you should be.  We also understand that all people are capable of making choices.  If you choose to be the Great Leader of the Zangyack Empire, then so be it.  We will react accordingly.  I’m sure Natsumi, Yuusuke, and Kaitou will as well.”  
  
“Yuusuke doesn’t always choose the right thing, you know.”  Tsukasa’s hands relax slowly, his fingers disentangling themselves from Gai’s shirt.  “Sometimes… sometimes he makes mistakes.  Sometimes I do things that hurt him, but last time… his fault… he forces me… Natsumi trusts me.  If Natsumi trusts me, why can’t he?”  
  
“Perhaps he is, in his own way.”  Gai straightens his shirt, watching Tsukasa with a pained expression.  “Perhaps he’s trusting you to make your own decision, and trying to show you what’s going to happen if you go down the path you look like you’re choosing.”  
  
Doc makes a soft sound, partway between a gulp and a whimper.  It’s clear that he’s trying to tell them not to antagonize Tsukasa.  
  
Tsukasa studies them, expression twitching between icy fury and desperate, lost sadness.  “I’ll kill whoever I have to in order to succeed.  Because I’m a survivor.  But I won’t lose them.”  
  
“Even anti-heroes know what friendship is.  It’s what makes them human.”  Gai seems almost happy as he nods slowly.  “It’s what lets them do what’s needed, when the final battle comes.”  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Expression settled back into a mask of cold calm, Tsukasa gives Gai a withering stare.  “Archetypes, choices… you’re a pathetic excuse for a pirate.  Besides, do you really think people can be simplified that easily?”  
  
“No.”  Grinning, Gai shakes his head.  “Every hero who’s worth anything is an amalgamation of his archetype, his past, his friendships, his losses, his loves, all of them interacting and twisting one another until he’s something completely new.  Every archetype can be a hero, and every archetype can be a villain.  It’s everything else about them and their surroundings that determines what they’ll be.”  
  
“That’s an interesting theory.”  Stepping back to the door, Tsukasa offers Gai a brief, predatory smile.  “Perhaps you’ll share it with the Zangyack when I present you as a gift to Kansanin in a few hours.”  
  
“Maybe I will.”  Gai doesn’t back down, taking a step toward Tsukasa.  “You wanted me to explain; I explained.  Now all you have to do is _understand_.  Okay?”  
  
“I think…”  Tsukasa shakes his head fiercely, tossing his hair about in a wild tangle.  “I understand the gist of everything I need to.  I just hope you pirates do, too.”  
  
It’s the last thing he says before leaving, the door opening just long enough for him to dart through and then closing again.  
  
“Well…”  Ahim studies the other two, her hand grabbing Gai’s arm in a mirror to Doc’s death grip.  “That was… unexpected.”  
  
“Yeah.”  Nodding, Gai continues to frown at the place Tsukasa was standing a moment before.  “Unexpected but interesting.  I hate the fact that we’re stuck here, waiting to see how it’ll turn out.”  
  
“I suspect we won’t be waiting long.”  Seeing again the desperate fury with which Tsukasa shook his head, Ahim tightens her grip on Gai’s arm.  “Not long at all, I fear.”  
  
Giving another moan of fear and frustration, Doc sits down on the ground again, dragging the other two with him.  “This really wasn’t what I had in mind when I agreed to more treasure-hunting with Marvelous.”  
  
“I’m quite certain it wasn’t what any of us had in mind for the future.”  Reaching around Gai, Ahim lays a comforting hand on Doc’s knee.  “As always, though, we will do the best we can with what we have been given.”  
  
Gai grins at her, giving Doc a bright clap on the back that almost doubles the smaller man up.  “That’s right, Don-san.  We’re heroes.  And the hero always wins.  So don’t give up yet.”  
  
“I’m not giving up.”  Sighing, Don rests his head against Gai’s shoulder.  “I’m just wondering if we’re going to end up getting crucified again, or if they’re going to come up with some other way to slowly torture us to death.”  
  
“I…”  Gai’s smile fades.  “I think that’s not a really good topic of conversation right now.”  
  
“No?  Our impending doom is a little too boring for you?”  There’s a slight edge of panic in Doc’s voice.  “Maybe you should tell us more about hero archetypes then.  I’m sure if we can figure out what Tsukasa’s archetype is supposed to be, you can find a way to have the crazy ex-Rider not turn us over to the psychotic wants-to-be-Emperor Zangyack lady.”  
  
“We’ll get through it, Doc.”  Squeezing his hand comfortingly, Ahim smiles as pleasantly as she can at the man, drowning her own fear in the need to assuage his.  “We just have to look for an opportunity, and trust that Marvelous and the others are doing the same.”  
  
“Assuming they’re alive.”  Doc hugs his knees tightly as he whispers the words.  
  
“They’re alive.”  The good cheer returns to Gai’s voice as he says it.  “I’m sure of it.  The Zangyack would have been telling us gory tales of their death if they weren’t.  And if they’re alive, and we’re alive… we’ll find a way to get through this.”  
  
“Yeah.”  Sighing, Doc offers them a smile of his own.  “You’re right.  Sorry, guys.”  
  
“Don’t be ashamed of being afraid.”  Laughing, Gai shakes his head.  “As Magiranger taught us, there can’t be courage without fear!”  
  
“Making me just about the most courageous person in the whole universe.”  Getting to his feet, Doc surveys their small jail cell again.  Shaking his head, he turns in a slow circle.  “Well, as we kill time until our inevitable demise, one more look around the premises?”  
  
Nodding an affirmative, Gai and Ahim start examining different walls for any possible chance of escape.  It doesn’t matter that they’ve done this before.  It doesn’t matter that Ahim’s quite certain they won’t be escaping until someone carelessly opens the door or they get an opportunity while being transferred.  
  
All that matters is that they’re together and that they have hope.  
  
Everything else is secondary.  
  
***  
  
Marvelous wakes up in pain.  
  
This is, sadly, not a new experience.  After gritting his teeth for a moment, he reminds himself that the important thing is that he _is_ awake.  
  
As long as he’s awake, it means he’s alive.  That means there’s a chance that his crew is also alive, and that he can get them out of this mess that they’ve gotten themselves involved in.  
  
Sitting up makes his ribs protest, and his vision does a strange little skittering dance sideways before coming into focus.  It does come into focus, though, and what he sees is somehow both reassuring and terrifying at the same time.  
  
Joe and Luka are both in the small room with him, laid out on metal tables that seem to merge with the floor.  Marvelous is sitting on a similar one, and he slides off the side, getting his feet under him before going to check on his crew.  
  
They look all right.  There isn’t any blood on either of them, and the cuts they acquired during the fighting look clean.  Taking Joe’s shoulder, Marvelous gives his first crewman a brief shake.  “Hey, Joe.  Wake up.”  
  
Joe stretches, brow furrowing, but he doesn’t actually regain consciousness.  
  
Moving over to Luka’s side, Marvelous pats her cheek gently.  He doesn’t dare shake her, not when she has an ugly gash going from two centimeters into her hairline down to the bottom edge of her right ear.  “Luka.  Come on, thief girl.  You need to wake up and see what they did.  They stole your rings, Luka.  That’s just unacceptable.”  
  
He’s certain Luka would agree with him that it’s unacceptable, but he’s apparently going to have to wait for that confirmation.  There isn’t even a twitch from her, and he sighs.  
  
All right, then.  He has two out of five of his crewmen with him.  That means there are just three more to find, and then he can take out the guy who managed to hurt them.  
  
There’s nothing in the room aside from the three tables.  There aren’t even any blankets or pillows, but the room’s warm enough that it isn’t necessary.  A quick brush of his hand against Luka and Joe’s foreheads reassure him that they’re warm enough and that neither is feverish.  
  
It doesn’t help him figure out how to get the door open.  
  
After an infuriating few minutes of scouring the room for any convenient ventilation shafts or even a damn doorknob on his side of the door, Marvelous gives up and settles down between the tables that house Joe and Luka.  Maybe one of them will have an idea of how to get out of here.  
  
It’s not like he can leave before they wake up, anyway.  Not unless he can think of some way to take over the entire ship, which may be possible but isn’t terribly probable, especially not when breathing feels kind of like some hoofed creature is kicking him in the chest repeatedly.  
  
The door opens before five minutes have passed, breaking the monotony of waiting.  Lunging to his feet, Marvelous places himself between the door and his people.  
  
“You’re awake.”  Tsukasa saunters in, adjusting the sleeve of his black leather jacket.  His lips are turned upward in the faintest of smiles, but the expression doesn’t reach his eyes.  “You’re quite the hardy man, Captain Marvelous.”  
  
“Ah.  I suppose.”  He has no weapons, but neither does Tsukasa.  Marvelous’ eyes flick between the man and the door, gauging his chances.  “A side effect of the pirate life, I guess.”  
  
“A side effect of being one of the last survivors of your race.”  The smile fades from Tsukasa’s face as he takes another step into the room.  “I looked into you, Marvelous.  I wanted to know why she thinks you’re worth listening to.”  
  
“Don’t believe everything you read.  Especially not when it’s written by the Zangyack.”  Even if he could take out Tsukasa now, he’ll be stuck with the problem of what to do with his unconscious crewmen and how to find the missing ones.  No, it’s best to wait for a more opportune moment, and use this conversation to find out what he can about Tsukasa’s plans.  
  
“So the Zangyack didn’t invade your planet, slaughter and enslave your people, track down the far-flung space-faring culture that your kind had created and crush it into oblivion?”  The smile is back on Tsukasa’s face, cold, mocking, just slightly sadistic.  
  
Marvelous finds that his hands have clenched into fists of their own volition, and he forces them to relax, a finger at a time.  “I don’t remember most of that.  Besides, it’s what the Zangyack do on every planet they find.”  
  
“Not quite.  Not with as much efficiency and prejudice.  After all, your people heal quickly.  Not like Yuusuke, not by a long shot, but fast enough to make you a force to be reckoned with.  And your people had the infrastructure to threaten Akudos, once upon a time.”  Tsukasa’s fingers slide along the edge of his jacket again, never stilling.  “The infrastructure, but not the centralization.  Space nomads, living by rules no one else could understand, ships full of strange ideas and stranger people… it’s no wonder they had to kill you all.”  
  
“Not all of us.  Not me.”  Staring Tsukasa down defiantly, Marvelous keeps his head high.  “Besides, what was done to my people is old news.  The Zangyack did a hell of a lot more to earn my wrath.”  
  
“Betrayal.  Treachery.  The inevitable end result of trusting anyone.”  There’s an almost manic edge to the way Tsukasa’s hands move, though his expression continues to range between cold amusement and utter disdain.  “Why risk so much, then?  Why continue to defy the Empire?  If you joined the Zangyack, you could have been—”  
  
“A pawn.  A tool.  A _toy_.”  Marvelous’ lip curls into a sneer as he spits the words out.  “There isn’t any working for or with the Zangyack.  There’s only being used by them, and then discarded when you’re not useful anymore.  Look into Joe’s past, if you don’t believe me.  Or Sid’s.  Sid Bamick.  You might find something interesting in his story.”  
  
Tsukasa’s right hand goes to his head, just for a moment.  Turning away, the Rider crosses his arms over his chest.  “That’s all you have to say?”  
  
“I… what?”  Shaking his head, Marvelous makes sure that he’s still safely between Tsukasa and his crew.  “I don’t understand what you’re asking.”  
  
“She said that I could learn something interesting from you.”  Tsukasa turns back to Marvelous, slight smile back in place.  “I suppose she meant interesting in the experimental vivisection sort of way, then.”  
  
A smile tugs at Marvelous’ mouth, and he crosses his arms as he gives a disdainful snort.  “You’re welcome to try whatever you want.”  
  
The smile fades again, and Tsukasa takes a step forward.  Marvelous moves to meet him, being careful not to make it too confrontational.  He doesn’t want to goad Tsukasa, but he won’t be intimidated by him.  
  
Tsukasa circles him once, eyes scanning up and down his body, head tilting to the side.  There’s something not quite right about the way he moves, not quite right about the way he watches, never blinking.  
  
He’s prepared for Tsukasa to attack him.  He’s prepared to defend himself, if he has to.  
  
He’s not prepared for Tsukasa to suddenly ignore him, moving with feline grace around to the opposite side of Joe’s table.  Mirroring the Rider’s movements, Marvelous faces him across his first mate’s prone body.  The smile is gone from his face, and he tries to bring it back for a moment before deciding that the bared-teeth grimace he can manage now is even less likely to convince Tsukasa that Joe isn’t worth threatening.  
  
“I’ll have to kill them, you know.”  Tsukasa’s fingers slide gently along Joe’s cheek, move up to his hair and toy with it for a moment before patting the swordsman on the head like a good pet.  “I’ll start with Ahim, I think.  Dishearten her people, help to stem the annoying tide of rebellion that she and her people have been fueling.  Then this one, to show anyone thinking of defecting from the Empire the futility of their actions.”  
  
Marvelous tries to keep his teeth from gritting together.  He allows his eyes to shift upward just slightly, so he doesn’t have to face Tsukasa’s small, mocking smile head on.  He will not be baited.  He will not be toyed with.  “And then you’ll kill me?  Slowly and methodically, as an example to anyone else who might be thinking of rebelling in even the tiniest way.”  
  
“No.”  Tsukasa laughs, the sound higher-pitched than Marvelous had expected from the man.  It’s almost a giggle, a slight edge of hysteria hidden in the sound.  “No, no, no, my pirate friend.  First Ahim, then Joe, and then the Earthman.  Ikari Gai.  The man who stood by your side when you struck down Akudos Gils, the man whose name has become synonymous with _hero_ in recent lore… I kill him slowly and painfully, and make sure the universe is watching it.  Not because I hate him, but because I have to, in order to make the Empire stable, and the Empire is the most important thing.”  
  
“Were you really a hero once?”  The question comes out sadder than Marvelous intended.  
  
Tsukasa’s eyes dilate, just a small change in his expression.  Tsukasa’s hand rises from Joe’s face and runs through his fly-away hair before reaching toward Marvelous.  
  
He should back away.  He shouldn’t antagonize this man who holds the lives of all of his crewmen in his hand.  
  
Instead he reaches out himself, placing his hand on Tsukasa’s shoulder.  Is that fear, in the man’s eyes?  Is that uncertainty, coloring his laugh?  Are the manic movements, the not-quite-honest sadism signs that some of his true personality is still there?  
  
Marvelous doesn’t understand what happens.  Tsukasa’s fingers graze his cheek, and the world turns inside-out, silver-grey replacing the prison cell they were in.  
  
“You’re a very difficult man to provoke, Marvelous.”  Tsukasa takes a step back, crossing his arms over his chest.  A true smile graces his face, touching his mouth and his eyes, making him look younger and less insane.  “How much detail do I need to go into on how I’ll slaughter your people before you decide to punch me?”  
  
“I fight when it’s actually going to achieve something useful.”  Looking around, Marvelous finds himself faced with nothing but grey.  There’s no sense of up, no sense of down, of sideways, and he finds himself holding his hands out to the side as though something may be closing in on him.  
  
“You’re afraid of this place.”  Tsukasa settles down in a throne that wasn’t there a moment before, propping his head on his hand as he examines Marvelous with amused interest.  “I didn’t think a man who grew up knowing he’d spend most of his life in space would be afraid of this.”  
  
“Space has stars.  Space has _direction_.  This place is… empty.”  Except it isn’t.  There’s nothing there, true, nothing to give a sense of scale or place or purpose, but there is… something.  A feeling in the air, a tingle on his skin, and this place is a place of _potential_.  
  
Tsukasa laughs again, and there is both more amusement and more hysteria in it than there had been before.  “Be happy it’s empty.  I’m keeping it empty for you, because I want to talk to you, but it’s usually not like this.”  
  
Fire on his skin, smoke in his nose, blood in his mouth, and Marvelous stumbles back a step, reaching for his weapons.  They are in his hands before he has time to think that they shouldn’t be, and he finds himself holding his saber and revolver as he faces Tsukasa in the empty grey again.  Lowering the weapons slowly, he studies them suspiciously.  They look right, they _feel_ right, but how did they get here?  “Where are we?”  
  
“We’re in between.  We’re in the space that’s mine.  My birthright.  The reason I have to control the Empire.  The reason I have to control everything.”  Tsukasa’s fingers tangle in his hair, and for a moment Marvelous is almost certain the man will cry.  Instead he shakes his head, hands going to the arms of his throne again.  “It’s somewhere I can go that they can’t watch, that they can’t follow, even the other ones who can travel between worlds.  Well, Wataru always had a knack for getting around here once he found it, but the Zangyack don’t have him.  They’ll never know about him, because I’ll never let them.  I don’t want to play _games_ with him ever again.”  
  
Explosions, heat pounding against his skin, there in a flash and then gone again.  Rising from a defensive crouch, Marvelous watches Tsukasa carefully.  
  
Manic was a good term for Tsukasa’s movements.  Better than he had realized.  Manic and mad, and Marvelous is beginning to think that the Zangyack don’t understand exactly what they’ve done.  “You wanted to talk to me without them seeing?”  
  
“Yes.”  Tsukasa stands, smiling brightly.  “I wanted to tell you that I won’t kill them, or you.  No matter what I say out _there_ , don’t believe it.  Out there I have to be the Great Leader, so I can’t take too many chances, not until I’ve cemented my position.  Which is where you’re going to come in.”  
  
“Me?  The guy you’ve taken prisoner and whose crew you’ve threatened?”  Raising one eyebrow, Marvelous studies the madman on the throne with deep skepticism.  
  
“Yes.”  Shrugging, Tsukasa waves a hand as though it doesn’t matter.  “You don’t have to, of course.  I can succeed in my plans all on my own.  But I like the idea of you at my side instead of at my back.”  
  
“And what, exactly, are you planning?”  
  
Tsukasa leans forward, grinning, though there’s a hungry, driven look to the expression.  “I’m going to eliminate Kansanin and all the other power-hungry little overlords.  Then I’m going to unite the Empire under me, like it’s supposed to be.”  
  
“Like it’s supposed to be…”  Lowering his weapons purposefully, Marvelous wills them away.  They are gone between one breath and the next, disintegrating into the grey nothingness that surrounds them.  He isn’t going to instigate a fight right now, though if this place works like he’s starting to think it does than he can fight anytime he wants.  “You think you’re supposed to rule the empire?”  
  
“Of course I am.”  Tsukasa stands and stretches, all leonine grace.  “I’m supposed to rule everything.  It’s why I was born.  It’s why I have this power—how many other people do you know who can walk between worlds—no, that’s not the right word here.  Who can walk between _universes_?”  
  
“None.”  It’s true enough that he’s never seen anyone who can do what Tsukasa can do.  “Or at least no one who admitted to it.”  
  
“Even if you did meet someone else who could—someone like Kaitou—they got it from _me_.  I’m the first, and the best.”  Tsukasa says the words without pride, as a simple statement of fact.  He smiles afterwards, though, one hand rising to his head again.  “Especially now.  Whatever Rerano did in my head, it means I can control this now, better than I ever could before.  Certainly better than I have in ages, since the Riders played their little game with me.  The bridges, the grey space, the worlds… they’re all mine.”  
  
“And if the people living in the worlds don’t want to be controlled?”  Crossing his arms over his chest again, Marvelous wills there to be a little more of the grey space between him and the pacing megalomaniac that the Zangyack crafted.  It works, the distance between them easing apart, though it causes something to twinge behind his eyes in an unpleasant fashion.  
  
“They have to accept me.”  A puzzled look crosses Tsukasa’s face.  “Why wouldn’t they?”  
  
“Because people don’t like being forced to follow anyone.  Because if someone’s going to follow you, it should be their choice.  Because people should be free to do what they want and follow who they want, and the fact that the Zangyack Empire’s been stomping all over that for years doesn’t mean you doing it would be any better.”  
  
Tsukasa laughs, the sound starting out mocking but quickly trailing off as the man continues to stare at him.  “You believe that?  They aren’t just pretty words that you were taught?”  
  
“I told you I don’t remember a lot from before the Zangyack.”  It’s true, in a way.  He remembers a lot about the rise of the Zangyack Empire, the fear that came before, the incomprehensible adult conversations about when to fight and when to surrender, the terror of bombs in the air and blood in the streets, but he remembers little of the time before.  A birthday, his family, his age-mates, games in the park and on the ocean and, for one glorious day, in space, but nothing like what Tsukasa’s talking about.  He remembers little of what his people were before they were space-rats, hunted and hounded and driven to the edge of extinction.  “I’m just a pirate.  And pirates do what they want, when they want.”  
  
“Just a pirate…”  Tsukasa paces around him, studies him from all angles, and the distance between them seems to wax and wane with each beat of his heart.  “Just a pirate, willing to die for his crew.  Just a pirate, toppling the greatest empire the worlds have ever seen.  Just a pirate, deciding what is right and wrong and getting others to agree with him.  Just a pirate… hunting the remnants of the Zangyack Empire across the galaxy, as though he could find justice for all that has been done.”  
  
“Heh.”  Meeting Tsukasa’s eyes as the man stops in front of him, Marvelous grins.  “You’re giving me way too much credit.  Like I said, I do what I want when I want to.  And if what I want is to fill my ship with strays and see every last Zangyack burn, that’s what I’ll do.”  
  
“Yes.”  Tsukasa closes the distance between them, using both hands to cup Marvevlous’ face.  
  
It takes all the pirate’s self-control not to back away from Tsukasa’s half-delirious grin, the fever-bright gleam in his eyes, but he doesn’t.  He will not be frightened of this man.  
  
“Kill them all.  Burn them all for what they did.  For hurting what’s mine…”  Tsukasa’s fingers stroke down Marvelous’ cheeks, but his eyes are unfocused, seeing something or someone else.  “You’ll help me with that?”  
  
“I’ll help defeat the Zangyack, yes.”  Leaning forward, so their foreheads touch, Marvelous gently places a hand on Tsukasa’s shoulder.  He doesn’t want to like this man.  He may still have to kill this man, because no one with this much power can be left alone with this much madness.  “Your friends will, too.  But we won’t help you conquer worlds.  We won’t let you kill innocent people.  Understand?”  
  
“I have to.”  The man shivers, a fierce, desperate motion, and pulls away.  “I have to be the Great Leader.  I have to preserve and serve the Empire.  But I have to kill them, first.  I have to make them understand that they can’t touch what’s mine.”  
  
Tsukasa’s voice goes cold as he speaks, expression closing down into icy resolution and an anger so frigid it burns.  
  
Sighing, Marvelous rubs a hand over his eyes.  He can’t hate the Zangyack more than he does.  They took his home from him.  They took the Red Pirates from him.  They’ve hunted him for years.  All this newest atrocity of theirs can do is make the bitter well of anger and sorrow that they crafted in his soul burn brighter as he considers his next move.  “I’ll do what I can, to help you kill Kansanin and any other petty warlord that thinks they can be the next Akudos Gils.”  
  
“Good.”  Tsukasa inclines his head, a regal move.  “Kansanin has requested my presence.  We’ll be rendezvousing with her flagship in about twenty-two hours.  I’m supposed to present her with some very important prisoners in return for her overlooking the fact that I’ve lost three-quarters of the fleet that she gave me.  I have you and your pirates to thank for wiping out about half of my forces, by the way.  I couldn’t have found a better way to eliminate unwanted Action Commanders.”  
  
“Don’t thank me for killing your people.”  It shouldn’t matter.  They were Zangyack.  They deserved to die, and however Tsukasa did it should have been fine.  
  
But it’s not.  It’s not all right for him to gloat about finding ways for people he was commanding to die.  
  
“You’re a strange man, Captain Marvelous.”  Tsukasa reaches out to touch his cheek again, amusement coloring his tone and his features.  “I think I like you.”  
  
“What is it that you want us to do?”  The words come out as a low growl, Marvelous’ disgust with and frustration toward the situation finding voice.  
  
“I’ll have someone incompetent bind you.  I’ll release the psi-locks on your weapons so you can summon them again and ensure your Mobirates are in your clothes.  And when you’re presented to Kansanin for your execution, you’ll kill her.”  Tsukasa bares his teeth, the expression not quite a smile.  “Kill her and join me, and we’ll ensure that no Zangyack ever rules this galaxy again.”  
  
No Zangyack, but a Zangyack creation, a hero with his heart torn out and twisted around.  “I’ll kill Kansanin for you.  After that… we’ll discuss things.”  
  
After that they’ll almost certainly fight, because he’s not going to trade one evil emperor for another.  They don’t need to discuss that right now, though.  
  
“Good.”  Tsukasa grins, stepping forward until scant centimeters separate him from Marvelous.  “Now, I’m going to take you back to your world.  And you’re going to scream like I’ve been torturing you.”  
  
There is blood in the air, the scent heavy and thick in his nose, cloying as he breathes.  
  
“You’re going to scream like I’ve shown you Hell.”  
  
He knows Yuusuke’s voice, even raised in an inhuman scream.  He knows the scent of burning flesh, though he wishes he didn’t.  He knows the feel of blood on his hands, blood raining down against their faces, and he is grateful that all he can see are Tsukasa’s dilated eyes.  
  
“Scream, so they don’t ask what we’ve been talking about.”  
  
There are explosions, at the corners of his vision, blood arcing through the air, the voices of a dozen people screaming out in pain and terror and accusation.  
  
 _Murderer._  
  
 _Destroyer._  
  
 _Monster._  
  
 _Betrayer._  
  
Over and over, _betrayer_ echoing against the walls and the emptiness as the grey space contorts around them, forming and breaking visions between one thought and the next.  He knows Yuusuke’s voice, knows Kaitou’s voice, knows Natsumi’s voice, and they are the ones that matter.  They are the ones that cause Tsukasa to flinch, to crack, expression jumping from amused disdain to heart-wrenching agony with no middle ground.  
  
Marvelous isn’t acting as he wrenches himself away from Tsukasa and falls backward, a horrified cry tearing at his throat.  He doesn’t understand what he’s seeing, doesn’t understand all the images whirling and forming and breaking up around them, but they frighten him.  Their effect on Tsukasa frightens him, because this man is his doorway back to his crew.  
  
Hands are suddenly around his shoulders, other voices as familiar as his own are drowning out the echoes of accusations in his ears, and it takes him longer than it should to realize that Joe and Luka are holding him.  Joe has his arms wrapped under Marvelous’ shoulders, trying to drag him to his feet; Luka has her hand on his cheek, is yelling at him to shut up, that it’s all right in between demanding Tsukasa tell her what he did.  
  
Tsukasa smiles at him, the expression once again cold and empty.  His hands are still, hanging loose and easy at his sides.  He looks like a man in control.  He looks like a man who knows what he’s doing, and why, and has everything carefully planned out.  
  
It’s a lie, and Marvelous shivers, pressing back against Joe’s warm body.  His breathing hitches as his ribs remember that they’re hurt, protesting the work-out that screaming and falling gave them.  Grabbing Luka’s hand, he pulls her back to his side, keeping her from antagonizing Tsukasa further.  
  
“Don’t.”  Marvelous’ voice comes out hoarser than he intended, and he clears his throat and tries again.  “Don’t.  Please.”  
  
Luka’s face twists and Joe’s arms tighten around him, and the thief’s practically growling as she turns back to Tsukasa.  
  
They don’t understand.  They think Tsukasa tortured him, did something to his mind, tried to break him.  They don’t realize that Tsukasa just showed him a little bit of the Hell that the Rider’s living through, the one that the Zangyack have somehow trapped him in.  
  
Struggling to his feet, Marvelous places his right hand on Joe’s shoulder, his left on Luka’s.  Looking at Tsukasa, he forces a grin onto his face.  “I understand, Rider.  We’ll play things your way, for now.”  
  
“But—”  Luka protests until he squeezes her shoulder.  
  
“He has the others, Luka.”  It’s the first reason Marvelous’ reeling mind can seize on for not wanting her to challenge the man right now.  “Ahim, Gai, and Doc.  If we misbehave, they pay.”  
  
“So?”  Luka practically vibrates under his hand, her eyes boring into Tsukasa with vicious force.  “He’ll kill us all anyway.  It’s what Zangyack do.  Whatever he did to you, Marvelous, it’s all right.  We’ll—”  
  
“Stand down.  Just for now.”  Joe speaks quietly, watching Marvelous with a puzzled expression.  “That’s what you want, right?”  
  
“Ah.  Just for now.”  Smiling at Joe, Marvelous stands a little straighter, moving in front of his crew.  “We’ll play your game for the moment, Tsukasa.  But don’t underestimate us.”  
  
“I have no intention of doing that.”  Tsukasa waves a hand dismissively.  “The three of you are here.  You’re the best fighters, so you probably think you stand the best chance of escape.  Go ahead and try.  If you do manage to escape, I will kill the other three in new and inventive ways before you have a chance to do anything about it.”  
  
It’s a believable threat, and Marvelous finds his hands clenching into fists again.  
  
Then Tsukasa’s hand twitches, just a little bit, fingers toying with his cuff edge for a moment.  It’s a small break in the man’s carefully constructed persona, but it’s enough to make the pirate captain believe what he had been told earlier.  
  
“If that’s all you have to say, consider it heard.”  Pressing his crew back, Marvelous grins cockily at Tsukasa.  “We’ll take your suggestion under advisement.”  
  
“If I weren’t so busy preparing for my royal welcome, I’d enjoy teaching you respect.”  Tsukasa shrugs, backing to the door.  “Another time, my pirate.  We’ll spend as much time as we need to helping you remember your manners.”  
  
It’s the last thing Tsukasa says before the door opens and he steps out into the hall.  
  
Is the door keyed to Tsukasa’s biorhythm in some way?  Or is it the Zangyack guards who are watching the room who decided when their Great Leader wanted to leave?  
  
Either way, it doesn’t matter.  
  
He has to decide whether he’s going to go along with the madman’s plan.  He has to find a way to let Luka and Joe know what’s been proposed without giving it away to their Zangyack guards.  
  
He has to sit down, because his chest hurts like hell and there’s no reason to stand up anymore.  
  
Luka and Joe hunker down next to him, watching him warily.  
  
“I’ve never heard you scream like that.”  Luka’s hand goes to his cheek, touches hesitantly and then retreats.  “Are you sure you’re all right?”  
  
“Where were you?”  Joe keeps a hand on Marvelous’ shoulder, fingers clutching tight as though he might disappear at any moment.  “We woke up and you weren’t here.  Then there was this… grey wavy thing and you just about fell on top of us.”  
  
“I’m all right.  Tsukasa just decided to give me a little show.  In living color and all available senses.”  Shaking his head, Marvelous dispels the last of the vision.  “Apparently the space between worlds can be used to make all sorts of fun things, if you just know how to do it.”  
  
If you just expected it— _felt_ it—strongly enough, and Marvelous has to rub his fingers together to reassure himself that there is no blood on them.  
  
“How’s everyone feeling?”  Looking at his crew, Marvelous frowns.  
  
“Like someone’s banging pots together in my head with every beat of my heart.”  Luka grins.  “Otherwise, I’m doing fine.”  
  
“I’m all right.  My shoulder’s a little jacked up, but it should heal well enough.”  Raising his hand to his right shoulder, Joe rotates it one way and then the other.  “Otherwise I’m in good shape.  Better than I expected to feel, certainly.”  
  
“It’s no fun torturing your prisoners if they’re already in too much pain to notice.”  Luka sighs as she settles down against the table next to her.  
  
“I won’t let him torture you.”  Staring at each of them in turn, Marvelous tries to let his certainty sink into them.  
  
“You can’t control what they do, Marvelous.”  Joe speaks gently, as though Marvelous is something breakable, earning a fierce scowl from his captain.  “And none of us will be happy if you die doing something idiotic.”  
  
“How often have I tried to commit suicide by idiocy, huh?  Luka, stop laughing.”  
  
“Sorry.”  Luka snickers again.  “It’s just funny, that’s all.”  
  
It is, kind of, and he smirks along with his crewmen.  “Fine.  So I’ve done some less-than-stellar things in the past.  Those times were few and far between, though.”  
  
“You’re at least good at getting the end result to come out in our favor.”  Luka’s smile fades.  “Do you really think the others are all right?  Ahim and Doc and Gai.  Did he tell you anything?”  
  
“Do you _believe_ what he told you?”  Joe adds the addendum, eyes rising to scan their small prison.  
  
“I believe they’re all right for now.”  Closing his eyes, Marvelous pictures Tsukasa’s face as the man told him that they wouldn’t be injured.  
  
For now.  
  
If they followed Tsukasa’s plan.  
  
His people are in the hands of a madman who used to be a hero.  A man who dreams of death, who lives with the sounds of his crew’s accusations and terror always in the back of his mind, who wants to kill the Zangyack and rule the Empire and protect his people and is having his soul torn apart slowly by the internal conflict.  
  
Reaching out to hold Luka and Joe’s hands tightly in his, Marvelous tries once more to think of a good way out of this mess.  
  
He’s bitterly afraid that there simply isn’t one.

 


	5. Grey

_Part Five: Grey_  
  
They are presented to Kansanin in chains.  
  
Tsukasa keeps the three Riders by his side.  They’re only chained at the ankles, thin strands tying Natsumi to Yuusuke and Yuusuke to Kaitou.  They’re all dressed smartly, in clothing that matches the colors of their Riders suits and has obviously been tailored to their forms.  Natsumi is gorgeous in her white blouse and white pants with a pale purple cloak, though her face displays her discomfort with the situation and her wariness around Tsukasa very clearly.  Kaitou looks dashing, debonaire, smiling at the Zangyack and waving slightly to some of the more humanoid ones.  It’s hard to tell how much of his smile is genuine and how much is faked, but there’s enough of an edge to it that Marvelous trusts him to fight on the right side when the time comes.  
  
Yuusuke looks awful.  He’s dressed in a smart black suit and a black cape with a deep red velvet lining, but he keeps shifting as though he’s in pain.  His face is pale, barely more color to it than when they had first dragged him from the battleground on Liria, and when he moves he stays slightly hunched, one arm always wrapped around his stomach while the other reaches out to touch one or the other of the people he’s tethered to.  
  
They’ll have to watch out for Yuusuke when everything goes down, make sure the other Riders are able to guard him when everything gets messy.  
  
Marvelous glances at his own people again, trying to keep his face nice and neutral for the benefit of the Zangyack.  Tsukasa had them tied together in groups of three, just as they had been imprisoned.  Metal cuffs bind their ankles and wrists, linking him and Joe to Luka; Doc’s tied in the middle of Ahim and Gai in front of them.  
  
Their own clothes had been patched and returned to them.  It’s almost funny, thinking of a Zangyack sewing together the holes that its compatriots had blown in his coat.  Whoever did it did a damn good job, at least, and Marvelous can feel a grin growing on his face despite himself.  
  
He’s with his people, and they’re all fine.  Well, a little bit worse for wear—Doc has a black eye, Luka still has the mildly worrying head wound, Joe’s right arm doesn’t seem to be working quite right, and everyone has an assortment of cuts and bruises, but it’s nothing they can’t fight through.  
  
Especially since Marvelous can feel his Mobirates in one of the inside pockets of his coat, pressing against his leg with every step.  Whatever else Tsukasa might be and might do in the hours to come, he kept his word.  
  
He’s certain that Luka and Joe have found their weapons.  He knew when each one noticed, because they paused, just slightly, and looked at him.  Thankfully the gormin were as dumb as their name implied, and none of the guards had noticed anything was strange.  He’ll just have to assume that Ahim’s group is as aware of their surroundings as his is, and have caught on to the plan.  
  
Tsukasa shoves Ahim forward, urging the first trio to walk.  He keeps a hand on Joe’s shoulder for a moment before giving him a small shove, too, putting about a meter of distance between the two groups of pirates as they’re marched toward Kansanin’s throne.  
  
Marvelous manages to throw the Rider a glare before getting dragged forward, slightly off-balance, as Luka tugs fiercely on the chains binding him to her.  
  
These tethers are really, really annoying.  
  
The Zangyack crowd presses around them as they walk, pointing and jeering.  A handful reach out to touch him, Joe, Ahim, and Gai.  Slapping and snarling at the offending appendages only earns laughter and giggles from the surrounding monsters, so Marvelous squares his shoulders and instead stares straight ahead as he walks.  He’ll be able to make them all pay soon enough.  
  
Kansanin relaxes in her black throne, one set of hands resting on the arms of the throne and one pair steepled in front of her mouth to give her an air of contemplation.  
  
The pirates stop at Tsukasa’s barked command, standing barely a meter in front of the throne.  For several long seconds Kansanin simply stares at them.  
  
Marvelous has just decided to start tapping his foot when the erstwhile Emperor finally leans forward, hands dropping away from her mouth.  “Well, well.  Look at who’s been brought before me.”  
  
Allowing his fierce grin to finally break through, Marvelous meets the Zangyack’s gaze evenly.  “I take it you know who we are, then?”  
  
“Of course.”  Kansanin smiles.  “Everyone in the galaxy knows who you upstarts are.”  
  
“Really?  That’s nice.”  Marvelous’ smile widens as he shrugs.  “Would you mind telling me who you are, then?  I don’t think I remember seeing your name on the list of important people.”  
  
A round of eager whispers runs through the surrounding Zangyack, and Kansanin’s easy smile vanishes without a trace.  “From what I had heard you were clever, young man.  Are you certain that antagonizing the Emperor of the Zangyack Empire is what you want to do?”  
  
“Well, considering the other option I’m considering is blowing you to Hell to say hello to your previous emperor and his son…”  Marvelous trails off as Luka gives a sharp tug on the chains, scowling at him.  “I mean, I’m honored that you recognize us, Kansanin.”  
  
There’s no doubt from his tone that he’s continuing to mock the woman, and Luka rolls her eyes.  
  
That’s all right, though.  It’s all part of the act, part of the fun as they wait for their opportune moment to present itself.  
  
“Your crimes against the Zangyack Empire are vast and grave.”  Kansanin stands, and though the difference in height that the dais for her throne gives her is only a half a meter at most it still makes her seem to loom over everyone.  The susurrus from the surrounding Zangyack quiets and dies.  “You have committed treason upon treason.  You slew not only the Great Emperor, but his chosen heir.  You have murdered hundreds upon hundreds of loyal Zangyack soldiers.”  
  
“As your kind ordered the murder of thousands of innocent civilians.”  Ahim’s lips are drawn tight, tense, and her teeth flash white as she talks.  
  
“As the Zangyack have sacrificed thousands of their own soldiers in the name of science and the maintaining of proper command structure.”  Joe stares at Kansanin, eyes bright and fierce.  
  
Kansanin continues, the flow of her speech only mildly disrupted by the pirate’s interjections.  “This is on top of a life dedicated to crime and the disruption of the proper order of things.”  
  
“An order where children die of starvation while your people grow fat and lazy.”  Luka’s hands are balled into fists.  
  
“An order where planets that don’t even have space travel are fair game for slaughter and conquest.”  Gai’s practically bouncing on his feet, a vibrating ball of suppressed energy.  
  
Kansanin waves a hand, dismissing their claims, trying to quiet the rising sounds of discontent from the Zangyack.  “For these crimes, as well as others that I won’t waste the time or patience of those gathered here enumerating, I sentence you all to—”  
  
“Death?”  Marvelous grins, stepping forward so he can stare at Kansanin from between Gai and Doc.  “Yeah, because we haven’t heard that one before.”  
  
Turning, Marvelous surveys the crowd of monsters surrounding him, both humanoid and distinctly non-human.  “We’ve got a different proposition for you.  For the crimes of mass murder, of institutionalized cruelty, of blind, bitter injustice on a galactic scale, we find the Zangyack Empire and all of its proponents guilty.  Sentencing will begin— _now_!”  
  
Their jailbreak isn’t quite as coordinated as he had hoped it would be, but they have the element of surprise on their side.  Their weapons come at their call, and Luka has the tethers tying him and Joe to her broken before two seconds have ticked away.  Gai, Doc, and Ahim take slightly longer.  
  
Still, they’re all in armor before Kansanin’s shouts for the guards to seize them have ceased echoing in the corners of the room.  
  
Chaos envelops the crowd.  Only Tsukasa and his crew are spared from it, the Fangire and newly promoted Zangyack guard that he brought with him apparently unimpressed by the hysterics of their superiors or the flailing, desperate drive to escape.  They stand firm against the tide, keeping the Riders from being enveloped in the fighting.  
  
It’s all Marvelous needs to see before turning his full attention to the enemies charging at him and his crew.  If Tsukasa’s content to sit this out for now and see how things fall, it’s best to use this time to kill as many potential Emperors as he can.  
  
It may be the last opportunity he has to just enjoy the fight for a long time, because he’s still bitterly certain that this night will end with him and Tsukasa crossing blades.  
  
***  
  
Kansanin runs.  
  
Tsukasa laughs, watching her as the world she had carefully constructed around her collapses.  The Zangyack she had gathered as her court have no loyalty, seeing in this unexpected attack by the pirates a shadow of what happened to the last emperor.  They crowd to the doors at the front of the room, desperate for escape, throwing each other back toward the rampaging pirates without a second thought.  Kansanin’s guards drive away desperate people from the doors behind the throne, protecting their emperor’s escape route.  
  
Some of the Zangyack would have gotten away, too, if someone hadn’t locked all of the doors.  
  
Running a coup really shouldn’t be so much bloody fun.  
  
“Tsukasa.”  Yuusuke’s voice somehow manages to cut across the din of screaming Zangyack and victorious pirates.  “What are you doing?”  
  
Turning back to Yuusuke, Tsukasa can feel the laughter die in his throat and the smile fade from his face.  Facing Yuusuke never used to hurt like this, he doesn’t think.  Maybe it’s just how small and weak and hurt Yuusuke still looks.  Yes, that must be it.  “I’m doing what I have to.  I’m getting control of my Empire, and punishing those who deserve to be punished.”  
  
“You’re really staging a coup.”  Kaitou laughs, bandaged right hand going to his hair as his left hand pulls DienDriver out from under his cape.  “Huh.  Tsukasa’s Intergalactic Space Empire, is that what you’re planning?”  
  
“Something like that.”  Tsukasa smiles as Kaitou arms himself.  Finding a good place to hide DienDriver had been the hardest part about arming everyone; Kivaala was easy enough to hide amidst the folds of white fabric, and Yuusuke always had Kuuga with him, even if he really shouldn’t use it right now.  
  
Kansanin and her entourage have discovered that the doors aren’t responding to their commands.  One of the Action Commanders, a small blue furry creature, is busy dismantling the door panel while the guards arrange themselves around the Emperor.  Tsukasa isn’t entirely certain how all the mechanisms function, but he frowns as he watches the creature work.  From the hope in its expression, it really thinks they have a chance of getting away.  
  
The Gokaigers have done a good job of thinning the herd of Zangyack, but there are still plenty left for them to kill.  Depending on how focused on Kansanin they are, she just might manage to get away if Tsukasa does nothing.  
  
He had been planning on sitting things out for as long as he could.  Letting anyone walk away from this who hasn’t pledged undying loyalty to him—with some collateral given that makes him believe they can be trusted without a sword in their back—is not something he can afford to do, though.  
  
“Stay here.”  Pinning Natsumi, Yuusuke, and Kaitou with a fierce glare, he annunciates each word as clearly as he can.  “Don’t get involved in the fight.  Especially you, Yuusuke.  You’re not ready yet.”  
  
“This isn’t really what you want, Tsukasa.”  Yuusuke steps toward him, one tiny step so he doesn’t pull on the chains linking him to Natsumi or Kaitou.  “I’m glad you didn’t kill the pirates, but this—a massacre, and you sweeping into the gap as some kind of Great Leader—”  
  
“Don’t let him hurt himself.”  Tsukasa gives Natsumi the order, not waiting for her nod before turning his back on Yuusuke.  
  
He’ll have to deal with the fact that he loves the man and yet can’t stand looking at him or talking to him.  He’ll have to deal with the fact that he wants to protect him, to fix him, and yet also wants to hurt him for every word that he says.  
  
Every painful word, every stabbing word that makes the red-grey-black haze in his head hurt more, and Tsukasa’s glad to be away from them and hunting.  
  
He’ll have to deal with things, but not yet.  Right now, all he has to do is kill those who hurt what was his.  
  
***  
  
“Tsukasa, don’t—”  He’s not paying any attention to her, though, striding away with fierce, grim purpose.  Sighing, Natsumi turns to the problem closest at hand.  
  
Without Tsukasa’s presence, their guards are more hesitant and more dangerous.  They glance back and forth among themselves, Zangyack to Orphenoch to Fangire.  Those glances are at least nicer than the ones that they give to her, Kaitou, and Yuusuke, though.  
  
“Ah, this is no fun.”  Pointing DienDriver at the chain connecting him to Yuusuke, Kaitou grins.  “Cover your eyes, everyone.  I’m going to join the dance.”  
  
She’s not sure if it’s the weapon’s fire from Diend or some alien misinterpretation of what Kaitou says.  All she knows is that as soon as the gun goes off two of the Fangire turn on them.  
  
She lets Kaitou deal with them, dragging Yuusuke away from the battle.  
  
“Natsumi, let me _go_.”  Yuusuke’s voice is a low growl as he shoves her hands away from his shoulders.  “I’m _fine_.”  
  
“There is so much not true with that statement, Yuusuke.”  Shaking her head, Natsumi fingers the thin chain still connecting their ankles.  “You don’t have to hurt yourself, so please, for the love of sanity, don’t.”  
  
His jaw is set firmly, mouth turned down into a fierce frown, but he hasn’t tried to pull Kuuga out yet.  Maybe he is listening to her, then.  
  
“You look like you could use some help.”  
  
Luka’s voice causes her to yelp and jump, and Natsumi flushes fiercely as she straightens.  “We’re doing all right.  You guys?”  
  
“Just peachy.”  Luka twirls her swords, head nodding toward the chain.  Ahim stands in her pink armor at the pirate’s back, guarding them all warily.  “Let me take care of that.”  
  
Nodding, Natsumi shields her face while Luka’s blade slices through the chain.  Smiling at the other women, Natsumi raises her eyebrows.  “You want some help with the fighting?”  
  
“Since Kaitou-san seems to have disappeared again…”  Ahim takes out two Zangyack who were edging just slightly too close.  “Any assistance would be appreciated.”  
  
Wincing, Natsumi scans the battlefield for Kaitou or Diend and finds that both are, indeed, absent.  
  
He’s probably still around.  He’s probably just using his invisibility skills.  
  
Probably.  
  
Hopefully.  
  
Sighing, Natsumi straightens and lifts her hand.  “Kivaala!”  
  
The little bat flutters free from her cloak, giggling as she does.  “Time for us to shine!”  
  
“You got that right.”  Smiling, Natsumi holds the small creature out in front of her.  Luka is fighting two Zangyack to her right; Ahim is engaged with a Fangire on her left.  It’s now or never.  “ _Henshin_!”  
  
Having her armor on feels good, just like it always does.  She feels _strong_ , in control, able to face anything.  Never mind that last time she lost; _this_ time there’s no doubt as to what the outcome will be.  
  
“Stay here, Yuusuke.”  Pointing her sword at the man, she speaks firmly.  “And _don’t_ transform.”  
  
He doesn’t respond.  He just stares at her, face still set stubbornly.  
  
Fine.  He’s a grown man.  He’ll do what he needs to and wants to, and she’ll just have to trust him not to kill himself like a damn martyr.  
  
Charging into the fray with Ahim and Luka, Natsumi smiles to herself.  The best way to protect both Yuusuke and Tsukasa right now is to kill as many Zangyack as she can.  
  
Right now, that fits her mood just fine.  
  
***  
  
Decade’s armor solidifies around him, dimming the battle sounds.  Some of the Zangyack pull away from him, uncertain where his loyalties lie; some attack him, shouting of betrayal or just screaming in incoherent rage and fear.  
  
He deals with all obstacles, his sword cutting through enemy armor with satisfying ease.  Let them fight him now.  Let them see what kind of warrior claims the throne, so that they understand what they will be standing against should they decide to rebel.  
  
He allows Decade’s armor to fracture and fall away as he approaches Kansanin.  He wants her to see him like this, as he was first presented to her, and understand that all that has happened is her doing.  
  
She retreats from him, shoving her warriors forward to meet him.  The gormin are pathetically easy to defeat, a single quick stab felling each; the dogormin are slightly harder, and the two red Imperial Guardsmen actually force him back into armor.  
  
The Action Commander is disappointing, the small blue creature not looking up from its frantic work on the door as his sword runs through its gut.  
  
He allows Decade’s armor to fade again, pulling his blade free.  Bright green blood sprays through the air, lands on his jacket, his face, and he grins as he flicks his sword, sending a swath through the air to strike Kansanin.  
  
“You cannot do this!”  The female crouches, red-tipped tail flicking back and forth.  An ornate, beautiful dagger with a wicked edge is held in each of her upper hands; her lower hands form a defensive shield for her abdomen and chest.  “I am your Emperor!  You will obey my command!”  
  
Tsukasa shakes his head, the red haze spreading over his thoughts, and laughs at the woman.  “I will serve the Empire.  I will serve the Emperor.  That’s what I was taught.  If you aren’t strong enough to hold the throne—”  
  
She comes at him with the speed of a striking cobra.  He wasn’t expecting it, and the right dagger bites into his shoulder while the claws of her left lower hand scrabble at his stomach.  
  
Shoving her away, he fumbles a card in and snaps DecaDriver closed with a snarl.  
  
He wanted to kill her where she could see his eyes.  He wanted her to understand who it was she lost to.  
  
(He wanted her to see how much it _hurts_ , how hard it is to sort the red and the grey and the black apart, but he can’t think about that now.)  
  
This way might not be as satisfying, but it works, too.  
  
She fights well.  He understands, dueling with her, how she became Emperor of this faction of the Zangyack Empire.  She is a fierce warrior, a skilled fighter, not afraid to take risks that might have big rewards.  
  
She’s also completely outclassed.  
  
He uses Kabuto’s Clock Up to disarm her.  He melts the weapons using Hibiki’s fire, burning her hands to the bone when she tries to leap for him again.  He likes Hibiki’s fire.  The roar of the flames, inside and out, drowns out everything else in his head as well as the screams that she gives.  
  
He can’t stay with the fire forever, though.  It’s dangerous, comes at too high a cost, so he lets the armor fade back to Decade’s colors.  
  
She still tries to fight, but a few well-placed kicks from Agito’s form leave her with only one limb that doesn’t have a broken bone in it somewhere.  
  
She doesn’t fight after that.  Knocking her to the ground, he clamps one hand around her throat before letting his armor fall completely one final time.  
  
“You were good.”  He says the praise with a grin, staring into her dilated green eyes.  “You were a good fighter, and I think you were a good leader for your troops.  But you’re not a good emperor.  Do you know why?”  
  
She doesn’t answer, but he takes her trembling for a suggestion that he continue.  
  
“You don’t know how to be in command.  You don’t know how to judge people that you’re just meeting.  You try to play the part, to make the pretty speeches, to give the scientists and the commanders and everyone else the freedom they need to do what you want them to do.  But you give them too much or too little.  You don’t have the charisma or the certainty to lead.  And you don’t know how to judge your prisoners.”  
  
She bares her fangs at him, but it is a weak, useless gesture, not a true show of aggression or strength.  
  
“Did you really think Marvelous was there to die?”  Tsukasa laughs, though he cuts himself off quickly.  He doesn’t like the way his laughter sounds, not right now.  “Did you really think _I_ was someone that you could use?”  
  
“Others… done it…”  Kansanin swallows, staring up at him in utter confusion and despair.  “Done it before.  With others.  Thought—”  
  
“You thought wrong.”  His fingers tighten around her throat.  “You _hurt_ what was mine.  You almost _killed_ them, and then you thought I would follow _you_?  I am no one’s dog.  If I’m going to be part of an empire, I’m going to be the head.”  
  
Kansanin struggles, eyes wide, and despite the damage he’s done to her the beast’s claws still hurt.  
  
Letting go of her, Tsukasa takes a step back, readying his sword.  
  
“Do it, then.”  She glares at him, defiance rising in her eyes.  “Kill me and then bring glory to the Empire.  It’s fitting enough.”  
  
“I—”  The sword shakes, just slightly, and he uses both hands, willing them to be steady.  “That’s what I’m planning to do.”  
  
“Is it?”  Marvelous’ voice is quiet, a low drawl.  “The Emperor is dead, long live the Emperor?”  
  
“ _Yes_!”  The word comes out as a pained howl, and the damn sword won’t stop shaking.  Why does it hurt so much?  Why does everything always hurt so much lately?  “I am the Great Leader!  I am the Emperor of the Zangyack Empire!”  
  
“You’re Kadoya Tsukasa.  You’re a Kamen Rider.”  Marvelous is standing beside him, now, and Tsukasa wishes his vision weren’t as blurry as it suddenly is.  “That’s about all I know about you.  Except for one thing.  One really important thing.  Your crew loves you.”  
  
His crew.  His people.  Natsumi.  Yuusuke.  Kaitou.  
  
Kansanin watches them both, eyes wide and wary, darting around for an escape path.  He should kill her.  She’s a monster.  She deserves to die.  He should kill her and take her place.  
  
Except…  
  
It _hurts_.  Why does it hurt?  Why does thinking of murder make the screams so much louder in his head, the ones that no one else can hear?  Why does he desperately need and desperately fear and absolutely loath the thought of becoming Emperor?  
  
“You don’t have to do this, Tsukasa.”  Marvelous says the words calmly, but with a normal cadence, a normal volume.  
  
Not like he’s talking to a child or a madman, and Tsukasa has to bite down on another fit of laughter.  He can’t afford to fall apart.  He has to be in control.  
  
He has to be the Emperor.  
  
He has to be the Great Leader.  
  
He has to stop, because people are dying, and if he doesn’t stop then the ones he cares about will end up getting hurt, just like every other time.  
  
“They’ll help you, Tsukasa.  I’ve seen enough of who they are to be certain of that.”  There’s still nothing patronizing in Marvelous’ voice, his saber held steady but not threateningly in front of him.  Ready to guard or fight, but not instigating either, and Tsukasa shakes his head, trying to clear his vision.  
  
He needs to kill her.  Kansanin.  She’s a threat.  She’s a danger to his people, has injured them before, and if he doesn’t kill her then he can’t become Emperor and if doesn’t become Emperor but if he does—  
  
It _hurts_ , and the sword isn’t pointing at her anymore as his right hand rises to his head, presses frantically at his temple as though that could let some of the pressure out and make it easier to _think_ again.  
  
The wave of darkness crashes through everyone, sending them to the ground.  Tsukasa finds himself flung against the wall, Marvelous’ form landing beside him.  Kansanin had been crouching against the wall anyway, but her eyes close as the pressure forces air from lungs, forces limbs into patterns that feel unnatural, and seems to strip away all concept of light from the universe.  
  
The wave is gone as quickly as it came, leaving bodies strewn along all the walls of the room as well as against tables, pillars, and the throne.  The Gokaigers are the first to rise, Marvelous staggering uncertainly to his feet followed shortly by the rest of his crew.  
  
Kivaala and Diend stand next, shaking their heads and racing from where they had been thrown to the still form lying at the center of the chaos.  
  
Yuusuke.  
  
No.  
  
Not again.  
  
Kansanin forgotten, Tsukasa runs toward his people.  
  
***  
  
The madman’s gone, distracted from her by whatever force brought most of the battle to a screeching halt.  
  
Kansanin forces herself to her feet, though everything aches and she’s certain she has multiple broken bones.  She’s alive, though.  As long as she’s alive, there’s a chance that she can salvage this, rebuild what’s been lost.  
  
Or at least survive, find somewhere to establish a small empire, because being Emperor of the Zangyack seems to have suddenly lost most of its appeal.  
  
The Action Commander had almost finished getting the door unlocked, and she picks up where he left off.  Just a few buttons pushed and then—  
  
The saber slides under her chin, forcing her backward.  Standing slowly, she turns to face the pirate.  
  
“Hi there.”  Marvelous’ voice is a low purr from behind his red helmet.  His saber remains pointed at her throat.  “You thought I was going to forget about you and let you get away?”  
  
“You kept him from killing me.”  Her eyes dart to the door, searching for a way to escape.  “You know what mercy is.”  
  
“I do know what mercy is.”  He straightens as he says it.  “I know some people are worthy of mercy.  Tsukasa is.  He doesn’t deserve what happened to him.  He doesn’t deserve the pain you’ve given him.  And that’s why I couldn’t let him kill you.”  
  
“That… makes no sense.”  Staring at the point of the sword, Kansanin considers rushing the pirate.  If she can break past him, gain ground and weapons, organize the survivors so this is a battle and not a slaughter—  
  
“Don’t think about it.”  The edge of the saber slides along her throat, pulling a thin line of bright red blood through the dark red fur.  “I couldn’t let him kill you because killing you has gotten all tangled up in his head with taking control of the Empire.  It wouldn’t be about justice.  It wouldn’t even be about revenge for his crew, though that’s certainly buried in there somewhere.  It would be giving you what you wanted, in the end.  A great leader to guide the Zangyack Empire to cosmic domination.  And that is something that’s only going to happen over my dead body.”  
  
“Someone will arrange that.”  Straightening, she stares defiantly at the pirate.  She will not be intimidated.  She will not die huddling in a corner.  “Sooner or later, pirate, one of us will catch up to you.  One of us will make you pay.  There’s always someone else eager to rule, you know.”  
  
“Maybe.”  He shrugs, though his sword doesn’t move at all.  “Probably one of your lot will get lucky one day.  But not here.  Not today.”  
  
He moves quickly, with a deadly surety and grace, and it almost doesn’t hurt as the saber is buried in her chest.  
  
“Tell Akudos and Wals that I’ll keep sending them every would-be emperor I can find until I come to see them in person.”  He whispers the words in her ears as he pulls his sword free.  “And remember, this isn’t vengeance.  If it was, I would have killed you slowly.  This is justice, even if you don’t deserve it.”  
  
They’re the last words she hears as he lets her body tumble slowly to the floor.  
  
***  
  
Natsumi is kneeling at Yuusuke’s side, her sword held tight in her right hand.  None of the Zangyack or their guards have come near, perhaps because Kaitou’s turning in a circle, Diend pointed at anything that moves.  
  
Pointed at him, and Tsukasa forces himself to stop two meters away from them though he wants to keep charging forward.  “What happened?  I told you to keep him from…”  
  
Yuusuke isn’t moving.  It’s hard to tell if he’s breathing.  A pool of blood has gathered around his head, and there’s a faint red sheen to his skin.  
  
Blood.  There’s blood mixed in with his sweat, coating his body.  
  
The Kuuga belt shows around his waist, though he’s curled around it so that it’s impossible to see the amadam until Natsumi turns him gently over.  The stone is matte black, lacking the glow that it usually has, and two cracks bisect it.  Liquid oozes slowly between the cracks, drips to the floor in a slow patter.  
  
More blood.  Always blood.  
  
“This is your fault.”  Kaitou bites out the words, taking a step toward Tsukasa.  “This is all your damn fault!  We couldn’t just cut and run.  We couldn’t even just find a treasure and then keep going on merry way.  They almost _died_ once, but that wasn’t good enough for you.  You had to press your luck.  You had to—”  
  
“Kaitou, stop it!”  Natsumi’s voice cuts over the accusations, though it trembles.  “Daiki, please, help me.  I don’t know what… I can’t…”  
  
Kaitou turns to stare at her, expression mixed helplessness, frustration, and bitter anger.  He doesn’t know what to do, either.  That’s clear enough.  
  
Someone has to take control of things.  Someone has to get the bleeding to stop, and see if Yuusuke’s even still alive, still breathing, still has a heart beat.  Ducking under Kaitou’s gun, Tsukasa moves toward Natsumi and Yuusuke.  
  
She flinches away from him, raising her sword to keep him away from Yuusuke.  
  
It _hurts_.  
  
The red haze rips away from his thoughts, leaving only the black and the grey, and his head is filled with the screams of the Riders.  
  
The click of a lock, closing off home, and Natsumi’s pained, betrayed voice sending him into the rain.  
  
The scream of a man dying in fire, burning alone, and he can’t look at Yuusuke.  
  
Except he turns and the barrel of DienDriver is there, just like before, pointed at his head.  
  
His fault.  
  
Always his fault, when these things happen.  
  
DaiShocker’s Great Leader, and he let them use Yuusuke, let them terrify Natsumi, let them brand Kaitou as a thief and a traitor and chase him across the worlds.  
  
The Destroyer of Worlds, and he left Natsumi behind after he promised her he’d save her, killed-didn’t-kill Yuusuke because it was better than dying with the damn hero, and he should have let Kaitou kill him because it’s happening again.  
  
He’s done it again, hurt Yuusuke, driven Natsumi away, and there’s nothing he can do to fix it.  
  
 _Your birthright_ , the red haze whispers in his mind, sliding back across his thoughts, never far away.  _Your place, your birthright, your purpose, all for the Zangyack._  
  
“No!”  Taking a step back, he shakes his head, raking his nails down the right side of his face.  The pain doesn’t make the red haze go away, though.  “I’m not!  I didn’t want… I don’t…”  
  
 _Your place._  
  
Kaitou lowers DienDriver slowly, some of the anger fading from his expression.  
  
 _Your purpose._  
  
Yuusuke isn’t breathing.  He’s sure of that, and a low whimper slips out of Tsukasa’s throat.  
  
 _Your birthright._  
  
“That’s what you wanted, right?”  Tossing his hair out of his eyes, Tsukasa stares at Natsumi.  The red doesn’t answer, but Natsumi and Kaitou are staring at him.  He should try to make them understand, at least.  “My birthright.  The worlds.  The grey.  It’s what the Zangyack wanted, so that’s what they’ll get.  And I won’t hurt any of you ever again.  I’m sorry.”  
  
The grey space folds around him, and even though it doesn’t mean that the nightmare stops, at least it means that it’s no longer real.  
  
***  
  
“ _Tsukasa!_ Don’t—”  
  
Natsumi’s cry is heartbroken, and Marvelous turns from Kansanin’s body in time to see Kadoya Tsukasa swallowed by a flickering mass of grey.  
  
He doesn’t think before charging into the creeping emptiness of the barrier between worlds.  There isn’t time to.  
  
He’s seen what the grey space is for Tsukasa right now.  He still sees flashes of it, whenever he closes his eyes, and has no doubt that the images and smells and sounds will haunt his nightmares for a few months.  There can be no good reason for the Rider to retreat there without his crew.  
  
It’s quiet in the grey space.  It’s an eerie quiet, the kind that means that someone or something is sneaking up behind you, and Marvelous shivers slightly.  Damned if this place didn’t—  
  
“ _Whoa._ ”  
  
Marvelous spins around, sword at the ready, before realizing that the quiet exclamation came from a very familiar voice.  
  
Gai raises his armored hands, his trident still held in his right one.  “Sorry.  This place is just— _whoa_.”  
  
“It’s just creepy, you mean.”  Luka runs her hands over her arms before grabbing Ahim’s left hand.  “I don’t like it here.”  
  
“It’s…”  Joe pauses, searching for the word.  “Uncomfortable.  Uncontrollable.”  
  
“Limitless.”  Ahim’s statement comes out as a soft exhalation.  Reaching out, she pulls a pale purple flower from the grey space.  “Amazing.  Fantastic.  This is a place of _dreams_ , Marvelous.  This is a place—oh.”  
  
Luka grabs Ahim and holds her upright as the woman falters.  “Ahim?  What is it?”  
  
“Just… dizzy.  I’m all right, Luka, really.”  Standing and brushing at her armor’s skirt as though it were a real skirt, Ahim turns in a full circle.  “You could make anything here.  Anything your heart can imagine, anything your imagination can dream.  But it takes power, stamina, strength…”  
  
“I’m with Luka.”  Doc places a hand on Luka’s left shoulder, huddling against her.  “This place is creepy, and you’re not making it less creepy, Ahim, even if that was a very pretty flower that just appeared and disappeared.”  
  
Staring at his crewmen, Marvelous shakes his head.  “I didn’t tell you guys to follow me, you know.  Hell, I didn’t even know you _could_.”  
  
“Where you go, we go.”  Joe says it as though it’s the most natural thing in the world.  
  
“You can’t get rid of us that easily.”  Luka places one hand on her hip, which would look more impressive if she weren’t holding Ahim close with her right hand while Doc uses her as a shield.  “Though a nicer vacation spot when we’ve done something cool like take out the next Zangyack Emperor would be appreciated.”  
  
“I’ll make sure to find somewhere nice to visit once this is over.”  Swinging his wrist in a circle to loosen the muscles in his sword arm, Marvelous sighs.  “I won’t make you go back, but it’s not going to be pretty, what we find.  Tsukasa’s not doing so well, and he can make all this _potential_ Ahim’s so enamored with into something pretty unpleasant.  But I’m not going to let him hide here.  I told his people we’d bring him back, and that’s what we’re going to do.”  
  
None of them point out that the deal they’d made was to capture Tsukasa in battle, not bring him back from some nightmarish limbo.  They simply nod, as though this is the most natural thing in the world, and follow him.  
  
They walk through the rain of blood first.  That’s followed by a river of boiling blood, and then a lake of frozen blood, and Marvelous is certain he’s never going to get the taste of blood out of his mouth or the scent of it out of nose when the screaming finally starts.  
  
He’d been expecting it, because it was such a big part of the nightmare last time.  It’s actually a good sign, in a way, because he’s certain it means they’re getting closer to Tsukasa.  
  
His crew has pulled together, walking beside each other in a sharp V that leaves little room for ambush or attack except from directly behind.  Luka’s low voice asks, “Is this what it was like last time?”  
  
“No.”  Shaking his head, Marvelous continues, sighing as the rain of warm blood starts again.  “It’s a lot more… coherent now.  It’s holding together into a form better than it did last time.  But the screaming, the blood… they were here.  I’m guessing we’ll get to the bodies pretty soon.”  
  
No sooner has he opened his mouth than it happens.  Some are civilians, but those are faceless, nameless, placeholder bodies and nothing more.  
  
It’s the Riders that count.  
  
They’re never in full armor.  Always a piece is missing, exposing how human they are—a shock of hair here, a hand there, an open chest with a still heart there, and it’s their voices that are echoing through the forest-desert-canyon-city that they walk through.  
  
The background changes with every step they take, but the bodies don’t shift.  They just increase in frequency, decrease in armor, and he starts to recognize them.  
  
That’s Natsumi’s hand in Kivaala’s armor.  That’s Yuusuke’s hair, protruding from Kuuga’s broken helmet.  That’s Kaitou’s trickster grin, on a corpse otherwise mangled beyond recognition.  Those are Natsumi’s eyes, so openly accusatory; that is Yuusuke’s mouth, set in an expression of pained betrayal and bitter sorrow.  
  
“What’s he done, Marvelous?”  Joe asks the question, shouting to be heard above the cries of the dying who are already dead a hundred times over.  His hand reaches out to touch his captain’s shoulder briefly.  
  
In comfort, in fear, Marvelous isn’t certain, but he reaches over and clasps his first mate’s fingers tightly for a moment before letting him go.  “He’s fought against the Zangyack.  That’s all that matters right now.  Stay sharp, everyone.  We’re close to him, and that means if he’s going to try to kick us out of here it’s going to be soon.”  
  
No sooner have the words left Marvelous’ mouth than the monsters appear.  Some are Zangyack; most are not.  He recognizes a few from Tsukasa’s army.  Others are unique, new and bizarre creatures that he’s never seen before.  
  
None of them fight very well.  Their aim is to frighten, to drive off, not to kill, and before a minute has passed Marvelous has fought his way through to the man who created them.  
  
Tsukasa hangs crucified from a tree of black crystal.  The tree itself is wrapped around his wrists and ankles, piercing through his skin with viciously sharp thorns.  
  
“Well.”  Shaking the blood off his sword, Marvelous approaches Tsukasa.  “Looks like I found you.”  
  
Tsukasa doesn’t answer.  His head is bent down, resting against his chest.  His eyes are closed.  
  
“I know you didn’t create this nightmare for me.”  Walking forward, he uses his sword to prod the Rider’s chin up slightly.  “And it’s really quite a beauty.  The least you could do is look at your handiwork.”  
  
“Get out of here.”  Tsukasa lifts his head enough for the sword to not be pricking at his skin, though he keeps his eyes shut.  “Get your people out of here.  It isn’t safe.”  
  
“Not until you decide to come with me.”  Allowing his armor to fall away, Marvelous holds out a hand as he waits for Tsukasa to answer.  
  
“No.”  The man shakes his head, causing some of the crystal shards from the tree to leave deep red scratches on his neck.  “I can’t.”  
  
“Why?”  Marvelous waits patiently.  He can feel his crew collecting behind him, on the look-out for the next wave of monsters.  All of them drop their armor, too, taking their cues for action from him.  
  
“Because I hurt them again.”  Tsukasa’s eyes open slowly, and as they do the light dims until only a vicious red glare from a far-too-large moon provides any illumination.  “ _Again_.  Because it’s not safe for anyone to be with me.  Because the Zangyack did something to my mind, and I can’t trust myself.”  
  
“What happened to Yuusuke wasn’t your fault.”  Marvelous speaks with utter certainty, though he isn’t actually sure what happened to the Rider.  Had Yuusuke been the source of the wave of power that brought the fighting to a close?  Had that been what caused the man to collapse?  
  
“Just like the other times.”  Tsukasa laughs, a pained, bitter sound.  “I didn’t bind him with the Moonstone and use him to slaughter people and subjugate worlds.  I just didn’t stop it.  I didn’t intend for him to burn during the Rider War.  I just didn’t find a way to stop it.  And I didn’t hurt him this time.  I just put him in a position where he would fight, and let his nature take its course.”  
  
Marvelous doesn’t say anything for a long moment, meeting Tsukasa’s even gaze with his own.  What can he say to that, to the admission that Tsukasa’s gotten one of his people hurt that badly that many times?  “You and your crew have had a hard road, haven’t you?”  
  
Gai pushes forward, reaching out to take Tsukasa’s left hand.  The tree rushes at him, an angry threat, but none of the thorns actually touch Gai’s skin.  “This isn’t the justice Yuusuke would want, Tsukasa.”  
  
Tsukasa stares at Gai, and the thorns edge closer.  Narrowing his eyes, Marvelous crosses his arms over his chest and wills the prickly things back.  They twist, biting into Tsukasa’s skin, and the Rider hisses in a breath of pain.  
  
“This isn’t what any of your friends would want.”  Ahim takes Tsukasa’s right hand, and the black crystal shards of the tree turn to soft green vines for a good ten centimeters around where she touches.  “They wanted to save you.  They wanted to rescue you from what had been done, not punish you for crimes past, and certainly not to make you face justice for crimes that were not your fault.”  
  
“They always forgive me.”  Tsukasa’s eyes find Marvelous again.  “They always take me back, after I betray them.  And then it always happens again.  Not this time.”  
  
“How did you fight the brainwashing?”  Joe asks the question softly, surveying the bodies now scattered directly at their feet that hadn’t been there before.  Natsumi and Yuusuke, repeated over and over, with Kaitou’s form occasionally thrown in, and Marvelous forces his eyes back to Tsukasa’s.  
  
“They wanted what I am.”  Tsukasa smiles, a thin, sad expression.  “They wanted my ability to walk between worlds, to swell their armies and give them new opportunities to conquer unprepared people.  So they couldn’t erase all that I had been.  And that gave me something to hold on to.  My people.  My home.”  
  
“Your past and your guilt.”  Doc shakes, a minute tremble of his body as he looks around the red-tinted land.  “You held onto them, and you held onto this, so you’d remember that you couldn’t actually serve the Empire.”  
  
“But I have to.”  Tsukasa’s smile cracks, and the red rain of blood starts again.  “Because they put it inside me.  I couldn’t stop that.  I couldn’t stop them from bringing the _me_ who did this—all of this, who turned the heroes into murderers and then slaughtered them—back out.  And that meant I couldn’t save them.  Natsumi, Yuusuke… hell, even Kaitou.  I could only damn them with me.  And I’m done doing that.”  
  
“You love your crew.”  Marvelous smiles, reaching out to push blood-drenched hair away from Tsukasa’s eyes.  “And your crew loves you.  Together with the Zangyack’s stupidity, it means we win.”  
  
“You don’t—”  
  
“No.”  Cutting off Tsukasa’s protest with a finger across the man’s lips, Marvelous smiles.  He’s not sure if it’s him or one of his crew that stops the rain and turns the bloody moon to a bright sun when he does, but there’s good cause to grin either way.  “I do understand.  And I’m bringing you home, but without whatever madness the Zangyack put in your head.  This is a place of potential, yes?  A place where you can make all your nightmares come true?  Well, I’m going to use it to make a dream come true.  
  
“Gai, Ahim, hold onto him.  Tsukasa, this… thing they did to you.  The impulse you said they put in your head.  Can you isolate it?  Can you separate it from you, just for a moment?”  
  
“I… yes.”  Tsukasa nods, expression showing the first signs of wary hope.  “Why?”  
  
“Because they’re going to pull you free, and we’re going to kill it.  Got it?  On the count of three.  One.  Two.”  Gai and Ahim tense, ready for the order.  “Three!”  
  
Ahim and Luka pull on Tsukasa’s right hand; Doc and Gai pull on his left.  In one swift motion he’s free, and Marvelous and Joe duck underneath the Rider to stab at what’s left behind.  
  
It has no set form, though it looks mostly like a man.  A man made of red, a bloody mist, and their swords pin it to the crystal tree as the rest of the crew pulls Tsukasa further away, snapping the remaining connections between him and the beast.  
  
The tree groans, a deep, hungry sound, and begins to collapse in on the red mist.  Pulling their swords free, Marvelous and Joe quickly back away.  
  
The thing struggles.  It reaches for Tsukasa, again and again, but it’s pinned to the pulsing, shifting, beautiful darkness of the tree, and the tree won’t let it go.  
  
The tree consumes it completely, drowning out the monster’s last scream with a deep, vibrant laugh.  
  
“Well?”  Turning to Tsukasa, Marvelous tries not to feel too vulnerable having his back to the tree.  It’s just an imaginary tree in an imaginary place.  The worst thing he could do is imagine it doing—… nothing.  He’s imagining it doing nothing, very strongly.  “How do you feel?”  
  
“I feel…”  Standing uncertainly in the center of the pirate crew, Tsukasa shakes his head.  “Better.  It’s not… it’s not all undone, but I’m… me again.  There’s nothing of _theirs_ in here, making things worse.”  
  
“Does that mean we can go home?”  Doc asks the question hopefully.  
  
“Ah.”  Smiling at his crew, Marvelous walks forward and places his arm across the dazed Rider’s shoulders.  “I think it’s high time we all went home.”  
  
***  
  
“ _Tsukasa!_ ”  
  
The Gokaigers back away from Tsukasa, making room for the three bodies that throw themselves at the Rider as soon as the grey space retreats.  Glancing around, Ahim takes in the corpses lining the walls of the room.  None of the Zangyack are moving.  The Riders had been very thorough while they were gone.  
  
“Yuusuke?”  Tsukasa pulls back slowly, holding the smaller man at arms length.  “You’re… all right?”  
  
“No.”  Yuusuke shakes his head, though he’s grinning.  “I hurt like hell.  I don’t think I’ll be able to transform again even if I want to for… a while.  But I’m alive, and I’m really glad to see you.  People should really not assume I’m dead without checking my pulse.”  
  
Pulling Yuusuke forward into a fierce hug, Tsukasa stares at the other two Riders.  “I—”  
  
“Whatever you’re going to say, it’s fine.  You’re alive.  We’re all alive.”  Kaitou shrugs.  “Still planning on evil overlording it with the Zangyack?”  
  
“No.”  Shaking his head, Tsukasa smiles.  “Not a chance.  Some pirates helped me shake off the worst of what the Zangyack did to me, and now all I’d like to do is go home and sleep for a very long time.”  
  
“You have been more productive in the last few days than you’ve been in almost a year with the photo studio.”  Kaitou smiles, stowing Diend back in its holster.  “You could probably use some beauty sleep.”  
  
“All right, my turn.”  Pulling Yuusuke gently free, Natsumi takes his place wrapped in Tsukasa’s arms.  “It’s so good to see you looking and talking like yourself again, Tsukasa.”  
  
“I like to think that normally I’m not covered in multicolored blood, but the point is taken.”  Holding Natsumi tenderly, Tsukasa smiles at her.  “It’s good to be my own man again.”  
  
“What about you, Kaitou?”  Yuusuke leans against the gunman, and it’s hard to tell if it’s out of friendliness or to keep himself from falling over.  “Going to take your turn and get a hug?”  
  
“I think I’ll pass.”  Kaitou looks away.  “Though… Tsukasa… I’m sorry about—”  
  
“Forget it.”  Smiling at the thief, Tsukasa takes Natsumi’s hand before breaking the hug.  “Like you said, we’re all alive.  We helped get rid of a despicable dictator.  I’d say, all things considered… we’re doing all right?”  
  
It comes out as a question, whether Tsukasa intended it to or not.  The others hesitate, just barely, but then all three nod.  
  
“Yeah.”  Yuusuke smiles brightly as he turns to the Gokaigers.  “We’re doing all right, and we have you guys to thank for that.”  
  
“Don’t mention it.”  Gai waves away the praise, beaming happily, practically bouncing in his joy as he watches the Riders’ reunion.  “We’re glad to help.”  
  
“There are a few things.”  Catching Tsukasa’s eye, Marvelous waits for the man to give a slight nod before continuing.  “The alien enemies that you brought.  We need them sent back to whatever happy worlds they came from.  And we need to do something with all the Zangyack outside this room who are expecting you to emerge as their Great Leader.”  
  
“I can take care of that.”  Tsukasa takes a step forward and sways.  “In a few minutes, I can.  Sending the troops back won’t even be that difficult.  I had warned them before that I might need to send them back to their worlds.  As for what to do with the Zangyack… we give them the opportunity to surrender.  If they do, then they’re your people’s problem, and we go home.”  
  
“Tsukasa—”  Yuusuke’s protest is said with exasperated fondness.  
  
“No, it’s all right.”  Shaking his head, Marvelous settles down on the floor.  “You guys have had more than enough adventures in our universe.  Once this is settled, we’ll use the Galleon and take you back to Liria, if you want.”  
  
“That’s where the photo studio is.”  Natsumi pales and then blushes red, biting at her lip.  “And where Grandpa is.  I really hope he’s all right.”  
  
“I never got to Liria.”  Settling down on the floor as well, Tsukasa sighs.  “Well, not after our first battle.  It should have been safe enough.”  
  
“It has been as far as I know.”  Shrugging Marvelous stretches his arms above his head.  “We’ll know in a few hours, one way or another.”  
  
The Gokaigers settle down around Marvelous, and the Riders settle down around Tsukasa.  
  
It’s a small respite before one last storm, but for a few minutes, they’re all just content to sit and relax in one another’s company.

 


	6. Epilogue: Clear Skies

_Epilogue: Clear Skies_  
  
“So this is it.”  Doc scrambles around the front of the photo studio, peering into windows as though he can tell the answers to all his questions from examining it.  “This is the place that you guys are able to take with you between worlds.”  
  
“Yeah.”  Tsukasa ambles up to the storefront.  “And no, I still don’t know anything else about how my powers work.  If you want to understand it, go experiment on your own.”  
  
“Sorry.”  Shaking his head, Marvelous grabs Doc’s arm and pulls him away from the window.  “One universe is quite enough for us to handle right now.”  
  
“Are you guys going to come back?”  Gai looks for all the world like a puppy they’re abandoning, and Natsumi has to fight back a wave of guilt.  
  
“We’ll probably drop by again.”  Yuusuke shakes the pirate’s hand, a tight, fierce clasp.  “Hopefully with a little less drama next time.”  
  
“It would be nice to see you guys when there isn’t a war on.”  Luka leans against the storefront.  “I think our two groups have a good bit in common.”  
  
“Discussing other worlds will always be an exciting prospect.”  Ahim steps forward, taking Natsumi’s hands in both of hers.  “It has been an honor fighting beside you and your teammates.  We wish you peace for the next portion of your journey.”  
  
“It was an honor fighting beside you.”  It’s silly, that there are tears in her eyes, and Natsumi brushes them away as she hugs first Ahim and then Luka.  “It’s been really nice having someone to talk to.”  
  
“We’re always here if you need some girls who understand.”  Luka claps her on the shoulder as they pull apart, giving a conspiratorial wink that makes Natsumi’s cheeks burn red.  “Keep your boys in line, all right?”  
  
“I try.”  Her cheeks flush hotter, and Natsumi doesn’t look at any of her Riders—any of the _other_ Riders as she tries to correct herself.  “I mean, we all—they’re not mine, but—”  
  
“We’ll keep our crew safe.”  Yuusuke’s arm appears around her shoulders, and it’s far too easy and comfortable to lean into him.  “You do the same.”  
  
“No problem.”  Joe makes the easy assertion, standing at Marvelous’ side.  
  
“And maybe we will see on other worlds some day.”  Marvelous’ grin is broad and infectious.  “After all, a pirate has to chase treasure wherever he can find it.”  
  
“You might find treasure a little harder to get your hands on in the multiverse.”  Kaitou forms a gun with his recently un-bandaged right hand.  The skin is pale, almost translucent, but it’s healing well.  “There are other pirates out there, after all.”  
  
“No one ever said we weren’t up for a challenge.”  Luka whispers the words into Kaitou’s ear before going to stand with Marvelous.  
  
Gai pulls Doc back to Marvelous’ side, and Ahim moves to stand by Luka.  
  
“May you have a safe voyage.”  Marvelous says the words gravely, as though they were a mantra.  
  
“May you have a safe return.”  Tsukasa’s voice is suddenly equally grave.  “You’re a good man, Marvelous, with a good crew.  Pirate or not… you’re someone to respect, and an honor to your world.”  
  
“Same to you, Rider.”  Marvelous’ easy grin returns.  
  
“Ah… well…”  Tsukasa smiles, though there’s an edge of pain to it still.  Taking his hand gently in hers, Natsumi squeezes his fingers.  “Things turn out all right in the end.  That’s what matters.”  
  
“That’s all that matters.”  Crossing his hands over his chest, Marvelous nods toward the door.  “So, get on with it.  Let’s see this magic take you away to other worlds.”  
  
There’s a murmur of final farewells, and Gai waves frantically until they’re all inside the building.  
  
Eijiro rises from his place on the couch, a plate of cookies held out in front of him.  “Welcome home, you four.”  
  
“Cookies!”  Yuusuke darts over and grabs his, making it disappear within seconds; Kaitou does the same.  
  
“It’s good to be home.”  Hugging her grandfather, Natsumi picks up her own cookie and nibbles on an arm.  “I’m sorry if we worried you, Grandpa.”  
  
“You do what you have to do, my girl.”  Eijiro smiles, handing Tsukasa his cookie before heading toward the kitchen.  “Besides, this has been an absolutely fascinating world!  I’ll have to tell you about my adventures sometime.  Would anyone like tea?  Or coffee, or they have this very special drink here called…”  
  
Tsukasa moves over to the photo backdrop, reaching out to grab the chain as Eijiro’s voice fades into a dull hum from the kitchen.  “Is everyone ready?”  
  
“I’m ready.”  Yuusuke rubs the crumbs from his cookie off on his jeans before grabbing the chain with Tsukasa.  
  
“Ready.”  Standing between Yuusuke and Tsukasa, Natsumi smiles at both of them as she takes a firm grip on the chain.  
  
“I’m always ready.”  Kaitou smirks as he saunters over.  “The question, Tsukasa, is whether you’re really up for this.”  
  
Narrowing his eyes at the thief, Tsukasa raises his head.  “Anything you’re up for, Kaitou, I’m up for.”  
  
It happens between one breath and the next, a flash of silver-grey on the corner of her vision, and she doesn’t know how but like always she knows they’re in a new world.  
  
Giving each of her Riders a quick hug, she heads to the kitchen to help her grandfather.  
  
A new world, probably a new threat, with the old scars still not really healed, but it doesn’t matter.  
  
The four of them are together.  
  
Together, they can handle anything.

 


End file.
